How can we reconcile biodiversity protection, Alpine landscape quality, and river basin safety? This is the question the conference "River Restoration in the Mountains," scheduled for Friday, July 3, at the Palazzo delle Feste in Bardonecchia, will attempt to answer.
Promoted by Pro Natura Alta Valsusa, the Municipality of Bardonecchia, and the Management Body of the Cottian Alps Protected Areas, the study day will bring together administrators, technicians, scholars, and environmental restoration experts to discuss the new perspectives opened up by the European Regulation on Nature Restoration, approved in 2024. Among the objectives of the European regulation is the restoration of the ecological continuity of watercourses, considered fundamental to biodiversity conservation and the resilience of regions to the effects of climate change.
The initiative was initiated by Pro Natura following an initial discussion on lowland rivers, which took place in Turin in 2024 and attracted great interest and participation. In this second installment, the focus shifts to mountain environments, where stream management issues take on unique and often pressing dimensions. The choice of Bardonecchia is no coincidence, following the severe floods that struck the municipality on August 13, 2023, and June 30, 2025, due to a complex hydrographic situation resulting from the presence of four streams converging in the urban basin.
In this context, the involvement of the Protected Areas of the Cottian Alps is crucial, as they will bring to the table the practical experience of the project to restore the ecological connections of the Chisone stream within the Val Troncea Natural Park. After a lengthy planning phase, work is now underway to renaturalize the riverbed without compromising safety objectives.
The initiative aims to foster open discussion on a topic destined to play an increasingly central role in Alpine land management policies: transforming streams from mere hydraulic infrastructures into ecosystems capable of combining safety, naturalness, and landscape value.
The conference received the patronage of the Order of Biologists of Piedmont, Liguria, and Valle d'Aosta.
Registration is recommended by completing the following online form: https://forms.gle/w2Ty4gohQVaZADgy6
For more information: pronatura.altavalsusa@gmail.com
THE PROGRAM
River Restoration in the Mountains
Bardonecchia – Palazzo delle Feste
Friday, July 3
9:00 AM – Conference Opening and Welcome from the Authorities
Moderator: Giorgio Brezzo, Editor of the magazine "Passaggi e Sconfini"
First Session
Perspectives Opened by the European Regulation and Study of Innovative Solutions for the Natural Configuration of River Banks and Riverbeds
Integrated Approach to Watercourse Management
Elena Dan – CIRF (Italian Center for River Restoration)
Watercourse Restoration in Piedmont: Activities and Funding
Piedmont Region – Water Protection and Sustainable Use Sector
The CIRCA Catalogue and Environmental Offsets as Opportunities for Land Restoration Rivers
Gianna Betta – Metropolitan City of Turin, Department of Environment and Sustainable Development
Renaturalization and Restoration of Ecological Connections on the Chisone Stream
Luca Marello – Management Body of the Protected Areas of the Cottian Alps
Debate
1:00 PM – Free Lunch
2:00 PM – Start of Second Session
Specific Issues of the Upper Susa Valley and Bardonecchia in Particular: Bardonecchia as it was: a basin, four streams. Fragments of Memory and Images of a Fragile Territory
Walter Re – Local History Expert
The Merdovine... and the Others. Some Proposals for the Renaturalization of the River Banks in the Concentric Bardonecchia Area
Paolo Ghisleni – Pro Natura Alta Valsusa
Torrent Dynamics and Chronology of Hydraulic Management Works in Bardonecchia. Possible renaturalization interventions in waterways in the upper Susa Valley
Zeno Vangelista – Alta Valle Susa Forestry Consortium
Discussion and conclusions
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