As in the most part of the world, also in Italy the protected areas at first were considered as nature enclosures. This concept, that sharply separate what is in from what is out, at present seems to be unsuitable both to the new social and economical condition and to the growing complexity of the involved issues. That kind of crisis of the traditional conservative politics is well represented by the loss of meaning of the boundary as operative instrument for the conservation of natural values. New opportunities for conservation policies rises from the awardness of the necessity, for the policies themselves to consider the entire system, with its internal and external connections. Many experiences are moving towards alternative approaches where the boundary loose its value as separation element: interesting examples goes from the issues of environmental continuity to the plans of some European parks and so on to the opportunities that rises from the contemporary laws on the landscape subject.
