Landscape Compatibility of Wind Energy: Suggestions from Italian and Foreign Guidelines

The need of a widespread landscape quality (European Landscape Convention, 2000 [7]) has led, in Italy as abroad, to the establishment of laws, procedures and tools for a preliminary assessment of territorial transformations in relation to their landscape compatibility. The awareness of the ineffectiveness of a purely prescriptive rule has led to a wide production, since some decades, of "guidelines" as a tool to accompany design activity with qualitative suggestions, stemming from a careful reading of the landscape in which the project is placed. The paper analyses guidelines for wind farms, referring, in particular, to micro wind turbines and the urban environment. It wants to highlight their structure, contents and methods of communications. Through the comparison of national and international experiences the paper reflects, first, on suggested methodologies for landscape knowledge: considered issues, suggested analyses, study scales, data and knowledge sources; then, on suggested design criteria: considered aspects (e.g. materials, colours, localization), sources from which they came from (e.g. best practice, theoretical studies), representation modes (e.g. drawings, sketches, photos). Nevertheless, the paper points out possible shortcomings and reflects on the policies and tools necessary for guidelines' dissemination in order to guarantee a more effectiveness in practice. Research was conducted by exploring literature on the subject and web resources. In particular, the Italian context has been explored consulting regional and national guidelines provided by institutional bodies. The main international guidelines on wind energy has been explored too, allowing to compare the Italian situation with a broad context.