Collective Property in Rethinking the Conflict Between Uses and Non-Uses of the Central Apennines’ Mountain Areas

This research explores key aspects of the relationship between collective land tenure and territorialization processes in the central Apennines, focusing on the case of the Chiarino Valley, territory of the Collective Domain of Arischia, located in the heart of the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga national Park. Adopting an ethnographic and participant observation approach, it examines the evolving relationship between the Park, the community of Arischia, and its mountain, interpreting collective properties as territorial institutions capable of sustaining forms of community life and the social and ecological reproduction. The study discusses processes of implementation, disintegration, and reconfiguration of collective properties in the Abruzzo context within the Park’s space, where they have historically represented systems of subsistence, social cohesion, and environmental stewardship, with a particular focus on the Chiarino. The Chiarino emerges as an emblematic case: despite the physical distance that now separates it from the community, it continues to represent a strong marker of collective identity, expressed in residual traditional practices (pastoralism, wood gathering, foraging, artisanal production), in new forms of use, and in a dialogical— sometimes conflictual—relationship with the Park, shaped by practices of use and non-use of the mountain. The article interrogates the relationality of collective properties, understood as primary instruments of territorial governance in marginalized mountain areas, and highlights the need of stable arenas of dialogue between local communities and supra-local institutions, framing conflict as a generative dimension for the future trajectories of mountain areas.