The sources examined and the adopted approaches to their study in historical ecology varies and oscillates depending on the particular subject of research. Oral sources or archival documentation can be explored for their material evidence (from the document to the terrain), whilst structures and artefacts collected in the field can be traced back to archival and oral sources (from the terrain to the document). Research on the history of the agricultural landscape has been conducted at the University of Genoa since the 1970s, investigations that have been enhanced by developing interests in micro-history, historical ecology, geobotany and finally environmental archaeology. Since the mid-1990s, the Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology and History (LASA) at the University of Genoa has undertaken a series of systematic research programmes concerning the history and archaeology of environmental resources in the Ligurian mountains, and the application of subsequent findings to the management and planning of environmental and cultural heritage. These historical-archaeological-environmental investigations contributed to the formulation of proposals that seek to promote the local management of historical-environmental resources; the 're-authoration' of local actors. Investigations were conducted throughout Liguria in northwest Italy, particularly in the east of the region. The study sites are located in areas that were, until at least the end of the nineteenth century, used in the transhumance routes that linked coastal winter pastures to the summer mountain pastures in the hinterland. Animal breeding and husbandry was a fundamental component of the local economy of coastal area, as well as those of inland areas. A number of different and complimentary sources are drawn upon in the research of Ligurian environmental archaeology and history. The investigations conducted by geographers, historical ecologists, archaeologists, geologists, botanists and archaeobotanists are characterized by i) regressive analysis, starting from the analytical assessment of effects of practices (and their abandonment) on the present vegetation and therefore on the formation of the landscape; ii) the recognition of the 'status' of sites of historical-archaeological-environmental interest so as to trace of the role of human action and the recording of pertinent, related evidence; iii) a close dialogue between the various research components and respective disciplinary procedures related to the establishment and maintenance of equivalence between sources. Twenty years of research and teaching has made it possible to develop and elaborate approaches to different general analysis contexts (e.g. mountain wetlands as biostratigraphic archives, woodland archaeology, herding) and to identify and reconstruct specific practices of resources management (e.g. production of charcoal, grazing in the terraces, use of controlled fire, temporary crops, wooded pastures etc.) and the related ecological, archaeological and archaeobotanical indicators. The case-studies were selected from those in which the archaeological sources have been most thoroughly tested and are considered the most significant in terms of the intersection of sources. Permanent grassland, permanent crops and usurpations: the study area is located in Alta Val Trebbia (Genoa) and is part of a SCI (Site of Community Importance). The area is characterized by the presence of vast tracts of common land. Surveys were conducted on the historical pasture sites and/or those in which the watering of cattle took place. Archival research focused on the study of a centuries-old dispute between families in Fontanigorda and Casanova concerning rights to use portions of the territory. Interviews with current stakeholders recorded memories of particular practices in the management of wet meadows located above 1000 m asl. Archaeological investigations conducted in the wetlands documented the presence of water regulation methods and practices, such as dams and filtration walls, the analysis of the current cadaster indicating the presence/absence of enclosure walls corresponding to differences in the state of properties of these areas. The comparison of palynological and notary sources revealed the complexity of nineteenth and twentieth century agricultural phases, that whilst often underestimated, the deciphering of which is central to the reconstruction of the current landscape. Woodland archaeology. Wooded grassland and grazed woodland: the disappearance of the wooded grassland landscape resulted from a type of plant resource management that, whilst very common in the past mountain economy, is now abandoned, together with wild breeding. Until the end of the nineteenth century, this multiple use of resources ensured the provision of pasture, forage grass and leaves, wood and fruit (chestnuts, acorns, beechnuts, hazelnuts, apples and plums and, in coastal areas, even olives). In addition, sometimes, temporary sowing cycles were sometimes performed. In the Regional Forest of Gerbonte (1000-2000 m asl -- Prov. Imperia), the study began from dendrochronology, flanked by the palynological and anthracological analysis of soil and archival research concerning the history of the entire slope, forest management, and the vicissitudes of the companies responsible for the cutting of trees. A further case-study concerned a newly formed beechwood at about 1300 m asl in Val Trebbia, populated with centuries-old pollarded beeches. Historical ecology observations on the floristic composition and the consequences of the cultural practices of these 'plant monuments' were followed by cartographic analysis, archival research, soil pollen analysis and dendrochronology. Temporary agriculture and use of fire: within the wider context of use of woodland as pasture, controlled fire practices in wooded areas so as to rejuvenate the herbaceous layer (fornaci, ronchi) were widespread throughout the Apennines until the late-nineteenth century, and became more sporadic during to the mid-twentieth century. This practice was evidenced by oral and documentary sources, place names, historical maps and now also biostratigraphic evidence. The archaeological excavation of piles of stone clearance, soil profiles, anthracological, pollen, micromorphological and soil analyses permitted the identification of traces of temporary agriculture similar to the ronco practice dated to the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. The so-called 'alnocultura' is a particular historical-environmental system which consisted of cycles where copses of alder (in the mountain belt, Alnus incana) were first grazed and then subjected to ronco and planted with frugal cereals (rye, oats ) for a few years. Investigations have made it possible to recognize possible pollen indicators of this practice. The management of agro-forestry-pastoral resources from the sixteenth to the twentieth century: based on architectural archaeology investigations, studies in the Aveto valley, in the area surrounding the hamlet of Ventarola (845 masl, Rezzoaglio, Genoa), have made it possible to outline the organization and function of breeding spaces (built or not) both inside and outside of the village from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. The changes appear to be attributable to demographic modifications and those of the road network, as well as to local environmental resource management practices, such as changes from transhumant goat and sheep breeding to a sedentary cattle husbandry system, and from a multi-resource to mono-cultural management system that emerged clearly from the analysis of statistical sources and historical cartography. Historical ecology of terraced areas of coastal mountains. The case of the Cinque Terre: the analysis of documentary sources (current and historical maps, land registers and land estimi, iconography) and observational sources (current flora and vegetation, dendroecology) associated with soil pollen analysis revealed a disappeared landscape comprised of a mosaic of grasslands that were grazed until the nineteenth century. These areas were the 'grassy corridors' of transhumance along the Apennines ridges, and provided access routes to winter grazing in the terraces occupied by specialized crops (olive groves, vineyards, orchards, vegetable gardens). Pollen diagrams clearly identified a phase of agricultural and pastoral activities that were characterized by a scarcity of trees and an abundance of either spontaneous or cultivated herbaceous species. The most recent levels of the pollen diagrams detail a post-cultural phase in which herbaceous, light-demanding species decreased significantly in tandem with the spread of spontaneous shrubs and trees. Finally, these investigations show that the naturalistic value of these sites, a value that has often resulted in the protection of these areas, is linked to specific historical environmental resource management practices. The evidence of these practices is still recognizable (ecofacts and artifacts) through a local analytical approach, within which further discussions and dialogues concerning the production of new sources for historical ecology and historical geography, archaeology and archaeobotany are possible and pertinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]