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Un grande quadro a olio del giovane Tiziano che raffigura la Fuga in Egitto: Monica Ferrando ne sente tutta la fascinazione e ne coglie la forza provocatrice, muovendo dall'ipotesi secondo cui il luogo verso il quale il gruppo sacro si dirige sarebbe, più che un improbabile Egitto, un'Arcadia ideale. Ma perché sarà proprio Venezia – apparentemente così lontana dall'ambiente pastorale – a ispirare Tiziano nella pittura di quel paesaggio? Quale significato voleva attribuire all'Arcadia? Non certo quello di un rifugio per passatisti, e nemmeno di una semplice meta di fuga. Piuttosto quello di una terra promessa: a Venezia, in pieno Umanesimo, l'Arcadia poteva rappresentare un paradigma politico, una terra da abitare in cui i rapporti tra gli uomini potevano essere radicalmente diversi.

The Birth and Development of the Idealized Concept of Arcadia in the Ancient World for the first time brings together all the available evidence for this topic, from the Homeric period to the early Roman Empire, in one place. The evidence is both literary and visual and is considered in a chronological sequence. Thus the reader can follow the blossoming of the Arcadian dream through eight centuries. The ideological, political and philosophical background that forms the basis of this phenomenon is also outlined, and the contributions of poets, historians, philosophers, antiquarians, architects, sculptors and painters are duly considered. The book brings to light a treasure-trove of evidence, both well-known and obscure or fragmentary, filling a significant gap in the scholarly bibliography.

This book is about Arcadia and the pastoral tradition; what it has meant for successive generations and their vision of the landscape, as well as the implications this has had for its design and management. Today the concept of Arcadia, and way it has shaped our landscape, is dimly perceived and little understood by landscape architects and those responsible for the management of land. This is in marked contrast to previous centuries when the vision of Arcadia and the pastoral was implanted by education among the more privileged in society. Young men spent many hours translating and learning by rote the words of Virgil and other classical authors and on the Grand Tour they would be introduced to work of painters like Poussin and Claude and their interpretations of the Ideal pastoral landscape. Today Arcadia holds as powerful an influence as at any time in the past and it is important that we plan our urban environment in ways that harmonize with the natural world.Arcadian Visions provides an alternative landscape history for all those involved with the landscape - either through its design, management, use or enjoyment. It begins by examining the origins of Arcadia and the pastoral in the classical poetry of Theocritus and Virgil, and the effects of, and on, Christianity before outlining its development in renaissance Italy and subsequently in the Netherlands, America and England. It concludes by looking at how Arcadian ecology is bringing about a reappraisal of the pastoral in the 21st century.