The volume On the Side of Fire. Rites, approaches and cultivation practices in landscapes is the twenty-first edition in the “Memorie” series by the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche (FBSR), a Treviso-based international centre for landscape studies and research, founded by Luciano Benetton in 1987, focusing on history, geography, natural and cultural heritage. Opening space for discourse and dissemination, the Foundation opens its library and gardens to the public and offers a handful of educational and cultural events. The publication, edited by Luigi Latini and Simonetta Zanon, was published in 2024 (copublished and distributed by Antiga Edizioni) in English and Italian, following the 2023 International Landscape Study Days, accompanied by a symposium with speakers’ presentations on the keyword ‘fire’. With an aim of de-demonising fire at a time when wildfires present a serious threat to habitats, people and their settlements, the topic was accessed from cultural, social, and ecological perspectives, promoting working with fire instead of extinguishing its force.

On the Side of Fire opens with an introduction by the Italian writer Marco Belpoliti, weaving all the contributions by a common thread: a psychic dimension needed for taking charge and the exploitation of fire by human ancestors. The thoughts presented are permeated by fire as an “indigenous” element, in charge of human civilisation, culture, symbolism, habits, mythology, and religion. Fire is also recognised as meta-technology, as philosopher Alessandro De Cesaris calls it, necessary for the development of subsequent technological stages.

Belpoliti asks: how did the views change from fire being a necessity and a catalyst for sedentary agricultural societies, to being an enemy in the last centuries? Moving away from epistemological and psychoanalytic accounts of fire, the scientific approach comes into the foreground, while trying to bridge the broken relationship with fire as an ally by introducing ‘pyro-landscapes’, ‘ecology of fire’, and the contemporary use of this ‘low-tech’ primordial force. This takes the edge off On the Side of Fire from being merely a poetic anthropological contribution instilled with bonfire-nostalgia, making it instead a vital collection of research in science and culture. Perhaps the return of understanding ancient cosmologies can shed light on the Pyrocene we are experiencing now—how the force of fire is, in fact, hidden in ‘industrial fire’, while the ravaging of uncultivated fire is acknowledged as ‘bad fire’.

Putting fire into context, the forester Giuseppe Mariano Delogu makes a claim against climax states and for working with disturbance ingrained in the evolution of life on the planet, attuned to cyclical ‘fire regimes’. Knowing which ecosystems rely on specific events to replenish allows for developing a strategy of working with fire thresholds to avoid the ‘www’. Extinguishing wildfire at all costs, even without a serious threat, in return increases the amount of combustible material for the fire to strike again, more severely, leaving ecosystems unadapted. Delogu presents us with the concept of ‘Fire-Smart Territory’, coupled with ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge’, promoting “well-trained and empowered communities” with a shared governance model, able to manage wildfire risk through economic and social activities and even “promote benefits of fire use”. The case studies from the Pyrenees, bringing together shepherds, forestry professionals and firefighters, already show the example. ‘Prescribed fire’ and ‘back-burning’ are recognised forestry techniques in Italy (see Mastros de Fogu). ‘Pyrogardening’ can also lower the impact by eliminating pockets of combustible materials.

In this light, it is not odd to find accounts of fire rituals across Europe (and worldwide), which Ignazio Emanuele Buttitta writes about. However, in the light of Delogu’s article, bonfires around Easter make sense beyond the ritual, as the combustible material is dry enough to burn, while soil and plants are moist enough to prevent fire from spreading. As if the ritual is a celebratory, practical act. Serge Briffaud and Quentin Rivière write at length about controlled burns in Réunion Island, which is also known for an active volcano, Piton de la Fournaise. The arc of selected contributions follows volcano art representations, volcanoes as heritage, and city resilience after the Great Fires by comparing the Chicago and İzmir experiences.

The next book section, Field Diaries, connects intimate experiences and photo documentation of accounts on wildfire, volcano eruption, and the use of fire by communities in essays by Carlos Casas, Xabier Erkizia, and Enrico Pau. The diaries are followed by selected landscape and garden projects, including Juan Manuel Palerm’s planning on/with a new volcanic landscape, TCL Studio’s project Fire Stories inspired by Aboriginal practice, Robin Winogrond’s Fire Ring, and Véronique Mure’s article that demonstrates the ecology of fire present in the Mediterranean. On the Side of Fire concludes with an Afterword by Leonardo Caffo.

The book presents a compact yet broad view of working with fire through practical examples and an invitation for a fire culture resurrection. It is a fair collection of strong contributions, carefully selected and arranged in a way to create a narration to instil hope in the possibility of living with the potential of disastrous events without fear. However, as Delogu in the opening article points out (the article that perhaps most contributes to hope with its critical approach), the political will to include scientific knowledge in planning and law, connected to supporting local traditional practice, is of great importance for fire prevention. Saving the day after the calamity hits the news happens too often, when fire prevention strategies are more complex to tackle and mostly invisible to the public. The most frightening is the comparison of traditional fire and the hidden power of fire we now use in industry. Looking at fire in this way, the world indeed is burning.