From stone terraces suspended above the sea to the classrooms of the FAO: Amalfi's lemons are conquering the world. The Amalfi terraced farming system has been officially recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), joining the 102 sites that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations considers living examples of sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and rural culture.
The designation ceremony will be held today in Rome at FAO headquarters, as part of the organization's 80th anniversary celebrations. Amalfi is one of 28 new agricultural systems awarded, from 14 different countries, along with two others from Japan.
A recognition that comes from afar
Representing the city at the ceremony will be Mayor Daniele Milano and Councilor for Agriculture, Professor Antonietta Amatruda, accompanied by a delegation from the Monti Lattari Park and representatives of the local agricultural community.
"We are deeply proud," Milano and Amatruda declare. "The dry-stone terraces cultivated with lemons, olive trees, and vines have become a World Heritage Site for agriculture. This recognition we dedicate to all those who, with sacrifice and passion, keep this legacy alive."
The path to FAO recognition was long and complex: beginning in 2018 with the Ministry of Agriculture's inclusion in the National Register of Historic Rural Landscapes, the project was later expanded with the application to the GIAHS program, led by architect Giorgia De Pasquale. The dossier involved farmers, technicians, institutions, and citizens in a participatory process that centered on the idea of heroic agriculture, one that resists slopes, time, and economic change.
The value of resilient agriculture
In the presentation sheet, the FAO describes the Limonaie and terraces of Amalfi as "an agricultural system with low environmental impact and rich in biodiversity, rooted in centuries of knowledge".
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A landscape where man has shaped the mountain to make it fertile, creating a balance between production, soil protection, and water conservation.
A heritage that – the organization emphasizes – “supports livelihoods, protects the territory and preserves the identity of Mediterranean mountain agriculture”.
The 2025 GIAHS Award Ceremony will be moderated by Kaveh Zahedi, Director of the FAO Office for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment. The ceremony will open at 10:00 a.m. with a video message from Director-General Qu Dongyu and a speech by Deputy Director-General Godfrey Magwenzi, who will present the certificates to the newly recognized sites.
In the afternoon, there will be the opening of the exhibition dedicated to agricultural landscapes and a talk show with firsthand accounts from the award-winning territories. The event will be streamed live on the FAO website (event link).
The awards ceremony will be preceded, on October 28, by the conference "Perspectives and Promotion of Inland Areas: Italy's Historic Rural Landscapes as a National Heritage," hosted in the Sala della Lupa of the Chamber of Deputies.
Speakers will also include Mayor Milano, who will illustrate the "Landscape of Lemon Groves, Vineyards, and Woods in the Municipality of Amalfi," one of the 33 recognized historic rural landscapes in Italy.
With this recognition, Amalfi joins an international network of agricultural landscapes that combine tradition, sustainability, and identity.
A milestone that is also a starting point: a commitment to protecting and enhancing a fragile and precious system, where the culture of agricultural work becomes—now more than ever—the key to preserving the future of a unique territory.
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