Relievi

Relievi is the plural form used in Italian to refer to rilievo, a word that covers two related ideas: the relief of a landscape and a sculptural relief. In standard Italian, the noun rilievo denotes either the physical contour and variation in elevation of the land or a work of art in which figures project from a background plane. The typical plural is rilievi; relievi appears primarily as an anglicized or less common variant and is not standard Italian.

In sculpture, rilievo describes a technique in which figures and forms are raised or carved from a flat background. The main types are basso rilievo (low relief), where elements project only slightly from the surface, and alto rilievo (high relief), where figures stand out more prominently. Rilievo has been widely used from ancient times through the Renaissance and into modern sculpture, allowing artists to convey depth and narrative within a single carved plane.

In geography and cartography, rilievi refers to the relief of the terrain—the arrangement of mountains, hills, valleys, and plateaus that give a landscape its shape. Topographic maps and digital elevation models depict rilievi through contours, shading, and color gradients to convey elevation changes and terrain features. The term is common in Italian geomorphology and geography, where it helps describe landform processes and spatial variation.

Etymology traces rilievo to Latin relevāre, meaning to lift up, passing into Italian usage that covers both artistic and geographic senses. See also relief (sculpture), bas-relief, high relief, topography, and cartography.