Coastal scenery in Italian beaches: History Edit

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to provide a scenic assessment of Italian beaches considering both physical and social aspects in order to define strategies for coastal management.

Methods: Scenic values are estimated for 25 sites along Italian coastline using of a Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES), a fuzzy logic containing 26 physical/human factors. Sites were categorized into five classes from Class I (top grade scenery) to Class V (poor scenery). Furthermore, a survey through questionnaires on Users’ Perception (UP) was conducted to obtain social assessment of the beaches and to define the beachgoer’s characteristics for each scenic class. Five parameters (beach cleanlness, sea-water, beach width, landscape and crowding) were also combined to obtain a physical and social analysis of the beaches.

Results: Three beaches belonged to Class I, e.g. remote or resort areas with a low impact of human activities and high scores of natural parameters. Two Class II beaches were located at remote or rural beaches having sand beaches, turquoise water and vigorous vegetation together with a low impact of tourist developments. Classes III, IV and V presented a wide distribution and their lower scores were linked to a poor environmental setting. These beaches were generally located in urban localities. UP results showed negative judgments on sea-water and landscape especially for Class IV and V beaches. Furthermore, safety is very low for beaches of Class I mainly due to their natural/remote characteristics, while cleanliness, recreational activities and facilities were well-judged for the beaches classified as Class III, IV and V mostly due to the presence of beach establishments with all services. Beach cleanliness, beach width, sea-water and landscape were correlated considering CSES and UP; on the contrary, crowding factor indicated opposite trends of CSES and UP particularly at Class I beaches.

Conclusions: The excellent scenic values are linked to the environmental settings and the presence of wetlands, lagoons, delta, estuaries, flora and fauna species. Human parameters usually showed good scores even if conflicts between conservation and recreational activities exist .However, low scores of human parameters are often related to litter presence and coastal defence structures like groins and breakwaters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • scenery
  • italian beaches
  • urbanization
  • users' perception