The debate that leads to the ratification of the Convention on the Protection of the Natural and Cultural World Herit- age, adopted by the General Conference of the Member States of UNESCO in 1972, ...with the establishment of a special list of assets, which is recognized as having an exceptional universal value, was born in that particular historical moment in which the first problems of an environmental nature and ecological urgency begin to arise for the fate of our planet's natural resources, which thus go alongside the much more consolidated debate on the survival of cultural heritage. Twenty years later, the international organization, with the revision of the operational guidelines of the Convention, will expand the previous categories of assets to be protected, so as to include, the new typology of 'cultural landscapes'. In this category the 'Amalfi Coast' has been registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) since 1997, due to both its relevant natural and anthropic characteristics. Nevertheless, this contribution analyzes the considerable transformations of the area, mainly from the second half of the twentieth century to today, identifying possible integrated conservation strategies for the future.
The Palazzo Mansi and the ancient vineyard on terraces that surround it can be considered a large insula within the historic center of Scala, one of the 15 municipalities of the Amalfi coast, ...declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. The Mansi property, constituted by the ancient episcopal palace and vineyard on terraced land with some interesting minor buildings represents a whole to be analyzed and preserved as a system of built heritage and landscape. The main building consists of four floors: the two lowest floors have agricultural functions, as cisterns and cellars; the top ones, noble floors and the attic have maintained the original vaults, wooden floors and roofs, with limited adaptation interventions. The proposed essay aims to analyze the identity characteristics of this built landscape, which shows the values recognized by UNESCO in the Amalfi Coast area and which need new strategies for conservation and restoration to be handed down to posterity.
•Fenile, Ginestra, Pepella, and Ripoli autochthonous grapes were chemically characterized.•Phenolics, amino acids and oleanolic acid were analyzed by NMR, LC-MS and HPLC.•Chemical characterization of ...grapes will serve as a tool of variety differentiation.•Chemical characterization of grapes will help wineries to ameliorate their wines.
Minor grape varieties often possess key traits to produce wines with specific territorial identity. Italy is home to a wide selection of autochthonous grapevines. In 2005, four white grape varieties from the Amalfi coast, Fenile, Ginestra, Pepella and Ripoli were registered in the National Catalogue grapevines. They are all complementary varieties with a rich biodiversity and linked to an ancient wine heritage. Studies on such varieties have not been conducted yet. Here, the metabolite content of the above four grape varieties is described. Ripoli was the richest in quercetin derivatives while very low was the content of kaempferol derivatives; Pepella possessed an equal amount of quercetins and kaempferols; Ginestra and Fenile featured a quercetins abundance twice that of kaempferols. Also, the (+)-catechin content was higher than (–)-epicatechin's; B-type procyanidins occurred in higher concentrations in Pepella and Ripoli than in Fenile and Ginestra. Hydroxycinnamic acids were also identified and quantified. Seeds from each variety were carefully analyzed and flavanols were identified up to decamers along with their galloylation percentage. The obtained data are a tool of variety differentiation and useful to develop appropriate vinification procedures to ameliorate the quality of wines.
•Overview of the available literature on terraced landscapes in different region of the world.•Three Italian case studies located in three different contexts were considered.•Critical issues (terrace ...failures) related land abandonment were described and analyzed.•Non-structural and structural management were described.•The review underlines also the likely future challenges about terrace management with lidar.
Among the most evident landscape signatures of the human fingerprint, the terraces related to agricultural activities are of great importance. This technique is widely used in various parts of the world under various environmental conditions. In some areas, terraced landscapes can be considered a historical heritage and a cultural ecosystem service to be adequately preserved. However, terraced landscapes subject to abandonment can progressively increase gully erosion and cause terrace failure. Partly because of changes in societal perspective and migration towards metropolitan areas, some countries have been affected by serious and wide abandonment of agricultural lands in recent decades. This review aims to discuss the current state of agricultural terraced landscapes, underlining critical issues and likely solutions. The paper is structured in three main sections. The introduction provides an overview of the available literature on terraced landscapes and their critical issues. The second section presents three case studies: the first is located in the so-called Cinque Terre area (Liguria, Northern Italy), the second is placed in the Chianti Classico area (Tuscany, Central Italy), and the third refers to the renowned Amalfi Coast (Salerno, Southern Italy). The last section of the review relates to likely solutions (non-structural and structural management) and future challenges (use of high-resolution topography derived by lidar) for suitable management of such environments.
Human activity along the Amalfi coastline in Italy has been tied to the sea for millennia - for sustenance, migration, trade, warfare, and leisure. As a result, this region has an equally rich and ...extensive maritime cultural landscape composed of tangible and intangible elements. In 2016, a multi-disciplinary project began efforts to model and to understand changes within this landscape, and this essay presents the preliminary results of our first three seasons of work. Some efforts, such as the documentation of maritime cultural heritage in local museums, archival work, and geomorphological research proceeded smoothly. Unexpectedly, however, little material from the pre-modern era was found under water, adding questions to this study that future work in the Marine Protected Area west of Positano may answer.
The fragmentation in decision-making among different stakeholders severely influences the effectiveness of tourism promotion, in well-known destinations as well. Through the lens of Collaboration ...Theory, the paper empirically aims at exploring how an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) approach may be applied in a fragmented context of tourism with the objective of fostering collaboration between different players. Constructivist grounded theory is also employed to analyse interviews with tourism body stakeholders, organizations and other local government associations from the Amalfi coast region of Italy. The findings underpin the development of propositions presented not only for the purpose of guiding collaborative initiatives based on integrated communication's principles, but also for encouraging/urging local stakeholders to attain the main benefits of creating and maintaining a multifaceted network of relationships; that network of relations could constitute an efficient way to overcome uncertainty in tourism. Thus, the present paper advances a multidimensional IMC approach in a tourism framework, supporting the need to help local stakeholders to overcome boundaries that hinder them from joining forces. This approach will allow them to attract tourist interest, build and sustain a co-developed place brand, and as a result strengthen community identity.
In coarse-grained, unsaturated soils, heavy rainstorms may cause either shallow landslides or superficial soil erosion. The triggering of both of these phenomena is related to infiltration, runoff ...and overland flow, which are key processes requiring investigation. In particular, the quantitative estimates of the sediment yield at the outlet of mountain basins requires suitable physically based modelling. In this paper, the available approaches to soil erosion analysis are first reviewed, and the capabilities and limitations of a physically based model are then evaluated through a case study of two small mountain basins. The results obtained are in good agreement with those in the literature and with specific field data from a test area. Specifically, for distinct, realistic rainfall scenarios, soil suction is found to be a key factor in the spatial–temporal evolution of infiltration and runoff inside a mountain basin, and soil suction and rainfall intensity greatly influence the total peak discharge of water and sediments. The maximum volumetric concentration of sediments transported by water to the outlet of a mountain basin is found to be primarily related to the basin's specific morphometry.
This paper presents a study to evaluate the collapse susceptibility of a karst cave located along a slope on the Amalfi coast (southern Italy) and the presumable geomorphological evolution of the ...whole slope as a result of cave roof collapse. In the study area, several natural karst caves with volumes varying between 1000 and >10,000m3 were inventoried and the most likely genetic processes were identified. Some of them proved to be remnants of already collapsed caves, while others were in precarious stability conditions. The caves are usually located upslope or very close to the main populated resorts. A detailed geological, geomorphological and geostructural study was performed on a very wide, deep cave (called the “Saraceno” cave), on which the resort town of Conca de' Marini has been built. The study was carried out through a multidisciplinary approach, which included classical field geological observations, sometimes requiring the support of rock-climbing geologists, experts in photogrammetric surveys and terrestrial laser scanning techniques (TLS). TLS surveys allowed the reconstruction of an accurate geometric and geostructural model of the cave and its relationship with the upslope Conca de' Marini resort. Furthermore, it allowed the thickness of the cave overburden to be determined in detail; ground surfaces most susceptible to collapse were also identified. In the event of possible widespread collapse, several buildings and transportation infrastructures could be involved. As the cave is located on a very steep slope, a debris avalanche could be triggered in the event of a catastrophic failure, and the landslide debris, characterized by a presumably high magnitude and velocity, could involve a wide slope area down to the coast. The failure evolution could be very similar to that which took place in Amalfi in the late 19th century.
The article originates from a record David Jacoby drew attention to but left mostly unaddressed in his path-breaking article on the silk industry in western Byzantium. It examines three underexplored ...hagiographical texts concerning the endeavours of Arechis II, the prince of Benevento (758-787), in the translation of holy relics. These texts all feature the word phocaicus when describing the luxurious textiles Arechis dedicated to the relics. This article argues that this word is a geographical designation pointing to a so-far unidentified centre of the Byzantine silk industry sometime around 1050-1150, most likely Phokis in Central Greece.
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