Vines, Pigs, Truffles and Wolves: Navigating Tuscany’s Cultural Landscapes – ELLS Summerschool ‘Tasting the Land”

Tuscany’s rolling hills are more than postcard-perfect—they’re a living tapestry of tradition, terroir, and tension. As farmers craft world-renowned wines and olive oils using sustainable methods, they must also navigate growing land-use conflicts. Rewilding efforts have reintroduced wolves, sparking human-wildlife clashes. Soil degradation, erosion, and the pressure of modern agribusiness add layers of complexity. This Summer School explores how Tuscany balances conservation, cultural heritage, and food production. In Tuscany it brings together lecturers from BOKU (LAWI-ILAP Katharina Gugerell), University Hohenheim (Claudia Bieling), and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Marketa Miháliková ) as well as students from all over Europe and beyond. Students are diving into local agricultural practices, explore landscape change, revisit traditional ecological knowledge and delve into the thorny question: how can we preserve these rich cultural landscapes while supporting both people and nature?