The memory of mountains using Geosites. A tool for understanding natural culture and learning Earth Science. A geologic archive in the Mediterranean Puzzle (Calabria)

“Geological heritage” is the memory of our planet.Landforms and mountains preserve elements that, as such as abook, testify the history of Earth. In the last decades, isgrowing the idea of preserve not the “wonders of nature” but asystem of organic and organised blocks of informationrevealing the story of the Earth of the life forms that have livedupon in the various regions that have yielded key clues to thefascinating history of its evolution as a planet. Even today thissignal resource is still glimpsed through static perceptions–natural monuments, quirks of geological forces and events–thatin any event see a given formation as something separate,detached from the surrounding landscape. Geosites includenumerous meanings and potentialities that go far beyond such amuseological vision, and a natural laboratory for each learningat each level of culture or curiosity. Indeed, it constitutes atonce an essential resource for scientific and economicdevelopment, a habitat, landscape, an element of geodiversity,a source of knowledge about the Earth’s dynamics and pasthistory, the memory of biological evolution and of mainkind’sorigins and development, and a exceptional laboratory forenvironmental education. As far as other scientific methods, itis fundamental to develop understanding and bringing geologywithin the ken of society at large. Any geological subject is anintegral part of mankind’s common heritage, albeit the objectbecomes part of our cultural trust only when knowledge of it isshared and it is accesible. An example of the Memory ofmountains (the “Calabria Region” , a peace of an “OrogenicBelt” within the core of the Mediterranean Region), is herediscussed and illustrated using geosites as a tool forunderstanding natural culture and learning Earth Science atevery level of knowledge.