This paper explores the issue of coexistence and its related problems in two mountain areas within the Western Italian Alpine chain, Valsesia and Val d'Ossola. Both valleys share a common agropastoral past, and have undergone significant economic, political and cultural changes in the years right after the end of World War II, resulting in rural exodus, depopulation and decline in pastoral activities. These factors, therefore, triggered a rewilding of the surrounding environment which led to the appearance or reappearance of wildlife. Wildlife, people and tourists are the pivotal social actors of a complex network of relations that frames the so-called “landscapes of coexistence” (Zola 2024, Western et al. 2019). They are seen as entangled relational sites where human and more-than-human actors alike shape and co-shape them through interactions but also frictions and conflicts. Among them, the return of predators such as wolves poses a serious threat to herders who find themselves adjusting their practices to protect their livestock and the pastures through the use of livestock guarding dogs. In turn, these animals play an active role in the "triangle of frictions": on the one hand, their function as guard dogs clashes with the presence of tourists and recreationists who see them as a threat; on the other herders, but also farmers and dwellers alike tend to consider tourists as lacking the fundamental knowledge and know-how regarding mountain areas and wildlife. In their eyes, tourists are still trapped in a sort of anthropomorphic, romantic view of wildlife which tends to consider guardian dogs, sheep, cows, deer and wolves as Disney characters in need of being domesticated instead of complex multi-users of a dynamic landscape.
Triangulating Frictions: negotiating between tourism, wildlife and land management
Zola L
2026-01-01
Abstract
This paper explores the issue of coexistence and its related problems in two mountain areas within the Western Italian Alpine chain, Valsesia and Val d'Ossola. Both valleys share a common agropastoral past, and have undergone significant economic, political and cultural changes in the years right after the end of World War II, resulting in rural exodus, depopulation and decline in pastoral activities. These factors, therefore, triggered a rewilding of the surrounding environment which led to the appearance or reappearance of wildlife. Wildlife, people and tourists are the pivotal social actors of a complex network of relations that frames the so-called “landscapes of coexistence” (Zola 2024, Western et al. 2019). They are seen as entangled relational sites where human and more-than-human actors alike shape and co-shape them through interactions but also frictions and conflicts. Among them, the return of predators such as wolves poses a serious threat to herders who find themselves adjusting their practices to protect their livestock and the pastures through the use of livestock guarding dogs. In turn, these animals play an active role in the "triangle of frictions": on the one hand, their function as guard dogs clashes with the presence of tourists and recreationists who see them as a threat; on the other herders, but also farmers and dwellers alike tend to consider tourists as lacking the fundamental knowledge and know-how regarding mountain areas and wildlife. In their eyes, tourists are still trapped in a sort of anthropomorphic, romantic view of wildlife which tends to consider guardian dogs, sheep, cows, deer and wolves as Disney characters in need of being domesticated instead of complex multi-users of a dynamic landscape.
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