Narrating landscape: Nature in Italian public service broadcasting, between the environment and tradition.

This article examines how Italian public service broadcasting, specifically Rai, represents nature and landscape through socio-narrative discourses in a qualitative sample of six documentary and naturalistic programmes aired in November 2022. It identifies a dominant narrative pattern of journeying through Italy’s diverse territories, intertwining themes of nature, environmental issues, and tradition, with nature presented in three modes: as background, as a topic, and as a problem. The programmes combine educational and entertaining tones, featuring presenters who engage with local people and experts to highlight biodiversity, sustainability, and cultural heritage. Overall, Rai’s televisual discourse constructs the Italian landscape as a complex entity that merges natural beauty with human traditions, emphasizing the need for environmental awareness and preservation within a national identity framework.