Ou habite grand-mere? Une experience a travers le paysage dans la « ville diffuse » de Venetie (Italie)

The urban sprawl of the plain in north-eastern Italy, already known as a peculiar phenomenon by many researchers, in the last decade underwent a further phase of growth, with a huge proliferation of buildings (both residential and productive ones) and infrastructures. Population is facing new ways of living, with a large amount of short-distance migrations (from a village to the near one, from the town to the village) and with more short/medium-distance commuting (very often using private cars). How do people perceive these changes and these processes? Are they aware of the difference of living in the town, in the village and in the urban sprawl? Do people experience disorientation and lost feeling? Actually, in these processes the landscape change and its perception are playing an important role and, at the same time, toponymy can be considered as an intermediary between people and their territory. In such a perspective, the authors propose a reading of these problems in a study case, a village along a main road, southeast of the town of Padua, through: - an analysis of the main landscape changes in the last decades - a comparison between old and new toponymy, old and new points of reference - a contact with local inhabitants and with their perception of living and moving and of landscape changes The direct humorous reference to the story of Little Red Riding Hood is suggested by the strict intergenerational relationships (symbolized by the grandmother), particularly meaningful to understand the way of living and moving through the Veneto landscape; it is suggested also by the experience of the sprawl as a “forest” easy to get lost into, a metaphor of a troubled relationship between population and its territory. As a matter of fact, the authors notice many symptoms of this troubled relationship, even if local people are not explicitly aware of it and do not seem to feel lost.