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Abstract: Integration of pollen data from both marine and terrestrial cores contributes to the understanding of the timing of the climatic and human forces that shaped the cultural landscapes in the Italian peninsula. This paper focuses on the relation between natural and human landscapes, and the development of the cultural landscape from the Bronze Age to the medieval period and modern times. Two records were studied within independent projects, first the marine core RF93-30, from the central Adriatic, with a sediment source area including the Po valley and which spans the last 7,000 years, and secondly, material from the site of Terramara di Montale, a Bronze Age settlement on the Po plain, which was occupied from approximately 3550–3200 cal. b.p. The original chronology of the marine core was developed by using the magnetic inclination of the secular variation record and two 14C dates carried out on benthic and planktic foraminifera at depths of 527 and 599 cm. Its pollen record shows a gradual irreversible trend towards increasing aridity since 5700 cal. b.p. and, just after around 5100 cal. b.p., a Picea decline and a Quercus ilex type increase indicate less cool conditions. Human impact introduces rapid changes, such as the decrease of Abies alba, thinned by the reduction of precipitation and further cleared before or during the Early Bronze Age, followed by the fall of oaks. The latter started after around 3900 cal. b.p., and became evident at around 3600 cal. b.p. The gradual increase in signs of open landscape and woodland clearance correspond to the onset of Middle Bronze Age settlements in the Po valley, and to the development of the cultural landscape in the region. The impact of the terramare people includes woodland management by coppicing, and division of the territory into a patchwork of pastures and fields. Dry environments are indicated mainly by Cichorioideae, resulting from the continued human pressure, and these spread since the Recent Bronze Age. Of the possible causes for the decline of the terramare, we suggest that climate would have been less important in the decline than in the onset phases. The later cultural landscapes are mainly indicated by the trends of the Olea, Juglans and Castanea (OJC) records, besides those of cereals. At around 700 cal. b.p., the “chestnut landscape” spread while modern times are shown by the finds of Zea mays.

A method of liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was developed and validated for the determination of free soluble phenolic compounds in eight ancient varieties of wheat (Triticumsp. pl.): Autonomia, Gentil rosso, Inallettabile, Leone aristato, Mentana, Poulard di Ciano, Risciola, and Terminillo. Trace compounds such as two conjugated flavones, vitexin (17.13–34.32 μg/kg) and isovitexin (9.76–30.01 μg/kg), were also determined. Poulard di Ciano, presumably an autochthonous wheat of the Reggio Emilia province (northern Italy), showed a peculiar quali/quantitative phenolic profile (7097.03 μg/kg sum of total phenolic compounds and 1.97 sum of hydroxycinnamic acids to sum of hydroxybenzoic acids ratio) along with a tetraploid genome. Terminillo, Risciola, Gentil rosso, Mentana, and Leone aristato showed hexaploid genomes and high concentrations of phenolic compounds (ranging from 6796.12 to 7605.78 μg/kg), also in comparison with two modern varieties of bread wheat, Bolero and Blasco. The targeted metabolomic approach proved to be effective to determine some secondary metabolites of wheat. The richness in phenolic compounds combined with high rusticity and adaptability to marginal soils showed by ancient wheat varieties make them suitable for sustainable agricultural and organic cultivation.