Aspects and problems of changing economic utilization of the land in Italy and the corresponding soil consumption

The study moves from the observation that, in the last fifty years (1961–2010) the territory of our country, like those of other countries with advanced economies, has undergone extensive economic processes of change in the use of land, mostly due to a strong reduction of Agricultural Area Use (AAU), whose consistency – on the basis of official statistics (National Statistics Institute) and, in particular, the results of the General Census of Agriculture – is estimated at around 7,8 million hectares, from 20, 7 million hectares in 1961 to 12,9 million in 2010. It should be noted in fact that the intensity of the processes of reduction of the UAA was much greater in the first three decades, compared to subsequent of entire period, in which there has been a growing flowering of studies and research on the subject, aimed to analyze causes, modes and effects of the change in the economic use of the land with reference to agriculture, to rural world and the entire socio-economic system.