Chan Chan, capital of the Chimor Empire (8th-15th century AD) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, is the largest earthen settlement in Latin America, located between the valleys of the Moche and Chicama rivers. 2e Chimú, with their knowledge of the territory and climate, founded the city on a plateau protected from flooding and transformed the coastal desert into a vital resource through masonry works and networks of irrigation canals, as well as the management of totora reed beds (totorales). Totora reeds were used to build the so-called caballitos de totora, traditional boats still employed today by some local fishermen. 2e Italian Mission in Peru (MIPE) has conducted multidisciplinary research to document and safeguard the Chimú landscape interventions, protecting the cultural environment threatened by urbanization and promoting the ancestral knowledge of the local population.
Chan Chan (Perù), la città di terra. Trasformazioni del paesaggio tra il deserto e l’Oceano Pacifico
Francesca Colosi
2026
Abstract
Chan Chan, capital of the Chimor Empire (8th-15th century AD) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, is the largest earthen settlement in Latin America, located between the valleys of the Moche and Chicama rivers. 2e Chimú, with their knowledge of the territory and climate, founded the city on a plateau protected from flooding and transformed the coastal desert into a vital resource through masonry works and networks of irrigation canals, as well as the management of totora reed beds (totorales). Totora reeds were used to build the so-called caballitos de totora, traditional boats still employed today by some local fishermen. 2e Italian Mission in Peru (MIPE) has conducted multidisciplinary research to document and safeguard the Chimú landscape interventions, protecting the cultural environment threatened by urbanization and promoting the ancestral knowledge of the local population.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
