'An environmental history of the "timber frontier": sources, methods, problems'

Timber has long been a strategic resource shaping the economic and ecological ties between mountain regions and lowland economies. Its transport from Alpine valleys to the plains was historically intertwined with the circulation of goods scarce in mountain areas - most notably grain and wine - making timber trade a key driver of pre-modern economic integration. Given the logistical challenges posed by transport floating emerged as the most efficient method for moving large volumes of timber, significantly reducing transport costs and time. This technique not only enabled the exploitation of increasingly remote forest resources but also became a defining feature of early modern resource extraction systems. In recent decades, timber floating has attracted increasing scholarly attention as a case study in “enviro-technical” systems involving legal, ecological, technical, economic and social dimensions. The eastern Alpine region was one of northern Italy's major timber-producing areas during the early modern period. The growth in consumption in Venice, across the Venetian mainland and throughout the Mediterranean basin stimulated the expansion of timber production into increasingly remote Alpine valleys. The use of waterways and floating techniques was essential to make these resources economically accessible. This lecture explores the historical dynamics of this expansion along the border of the Holy Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice, tracing the technical development and chronology of timber floating practices as a lens onto broader processes of environmental and economic transformation in the Alpine world.

Katia Occhi is permanent researcher at the Italian-German Historical Institute of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-ISIG) in Trento. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the “Annali/Jahrbuch” and since 2021, has been editor-in-chief of the Institute’s journal “Annali. Recensioni. Online”. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Italian Society for Environmental History (SISAM). Her research focuses on environmental and socio-economic history in the Early Modern period, the history of archives, and forest history.