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ABSTRACT The paper proposes a brief analysis of the main elements that, on a theoretical, normative and situational basis, affect the value of properties placed as collateral for loans, with particular reference to the value they assume in the event that they are affected by an enforced procedure instead of being subject to normal sale, in free market conditions. Starting from the classic analytical estimate of the fair market value of a real estate asset in free market conditions, the paper will quantify the value that the asset should have when the appraiser has to indicate the value from which to start the judicial auction. Considering the regulatory mechanisms in place in Italy, the paper will put in evidence how a value calculated for an execution sale of a property occurring in a foreclosure process is considerably far from its fair market value and even more from its final judicial value, considered as the amount that will be recovered at the end of the sale of the property by judicial auction. For both debtors and creditors, the significant differences between fair market, execution and judicial values become an increasingly topical issue in the face of the growing number of default and distress of loans.

Human well-being is affected by the design quality of the city in which they live and walk. This depends primarily on specific physical characteristics and how they are aggregated together. Many studies have highlighted the great potential of photographic data shared on the Flickr platform for analyzing environmental perceptions in landscape and urban planning. Other researchers have used panoramic images from the Google Street View (GSV) web service to extract data on urban quality. However, at the urban level, there are no studies correlating quality perceptions detected by social media platforms with spatial geographic characteristics through geostatistical models. This work proposes the analysis of urban quality in different areas of the Livorno city through a methodological approach based on Geographical Random Forest regression. The result offers important insights into the physical characteristics of a street environment that contribute to the more abstract qualities of urban design.

Quantifying and mapping the relevant landscape attributes of winescape is difficult due to both the complex identity characterization of the places and the multidimensionality of the pursued perceptive experience on the emotional level. Although the quality of the rural landscape is recognized as an essential element of winescape, in the literature there are no methodological and applicative studies on the identification of the most significant characteristics of a wine region that are fundamental attributes in the preferences of visitors. The aim of the work is to propose a methodology to link the environmental and cultural landscape characteristics of the territory with the concept of winescape to improve the image of wine tourism adopting a systematic approach for territorial branding starting from the analysis of the visitors’ preferences. The analysis is conducted through the geographical information data shared on the social media Flickr. Different methods of analysis are applied in an integrated way to: a) analyze the demand for winescape in its different dimensions; b) identify the territorial variables that are part of the winescape supply; c) build a spatial relationship model between winescape demand and supply to quantify the territorial suitability and provide useful information for rural development strategies. Keywords: Winescape, Big data, Landscape quality, Image clustering, Maxent, Wine tourism: territorial marketing

The paper proposes a brief analysis of the main elements that, on a theoretical, normative and situational basis, affect the value of properties placed as collateral for loans, with particular reference to the value they assume in the event that they are affected by an enforced procedure instead of being subject to normal sale, in free market conditions. Starting from the classic analytical estimate of the fair market value of a real estate asset in free market conditions, the paper will define the principles the appraiser has to follow to quantify the value of the asset from which to start the judicial auction. Considering the regulatory mechanisms in place in Italy, the paper will put in evidence how a value calculated for an execution sale of a property occurring in a foreclosure process is considerably far from its fair market value and even more from its final judicial value, considered as the amount that will be recovered at the end of the sale of the property by judicial auction. For debtors and creditors, the significant differences between fair market, execution and judicial values become an increasingly topical issue in the face of the growing number of default and distress of loans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of geo-tagged photographs seems to be a promising alternative for assessing the scenic beauty of the agricultural landscape compared to the traditional investigation based on expert and perceptual approaches. The aim of this study is integrating the cumulative viewshed calculated from geotagged photo metadata publicly shared on Flickr with raster data on geomorphology, historical sites, and the natural environment, using landscape ecology metrics and Geographically Weighted Regression modelling. Crowdsourced data provided empirical assessments of the covariates associated with visitor distribution, highlighting how changes in infrastructure, crops and environmental factors can affect visitor’s use. This information can help researchers, managers, and public planners to develop projects, plans and guidelines to increase the visual quality of the agricultural landscape.

The paper focuses on the evaluation of the visual quality of the cityscape of Livorno, in Italy. Using an algorithm based on Flickr’s Application Programming Interface, the coordinates of 7,453 shooting points of a shared photo were downloaded. A direct survey was conducted to assess the perception of urban landscape. The geographical spaces to be evaluated were measured using 78 spherical images played in virtual reality through a virtual reality headset. The data were processed with the Principal Components Analysis. A Visual Quality Index (VQI) was developed to spatialise the results. Saliency maps were calculated to survey typical patterns in areas with high VQI. The results demonstrate how subjective visual perception helps identifying the criteria for the design of high-quality public spaces.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of firm size on the economic performance of wineries. To achieve this, the paper employs both different traditional profitability and productivity measures and a non-parametric technique to estimate efficiency as indicators of performance. Further, several parametric and non-parametric tests are used to analyse the influence of firm size on these performance indicators. Overall, the results obtained with a sample of 723 Italian wineries (limited companies and cooperatives) in 2013 show that size has a positive influence on the economic performance of wineries. Managers should be aware of the importance of monitoring their own performance in order to guarantee the competitiveness of their wineries.

The aim of the paper is to assess the perceived visual quality of the rural landscape in the Valdichiana aretina, Italy, through a survey conducted on a sample of ordinary people. The research comprises of three steps. First, the territory under study is divided into homogeneous landscape units through the implementation of GIS-based methodologies. Second, a photo-sampling of the area is carried out and a direct survey is conducted using the photographic material collected. Lastly, the information gathered is processed with the Multiple Factor Analysis technique. The results reveal that the visual quality of the landscape units is perceived differently according to the sets of variables summarized by the extracted components: composition and structure, stewardship and individual experience.

The EU legislation has undergone a radical change in 2008, handling the Italian legislature the necessity to rethink on fundamental aspects of the national legislation. The changes were focused on the procedure of formation and revision of the designations of origin, opening up new and important perspectives for Consortia since, as inter-branch organizations, they can be acknowledged as representatives of the economic activities linked to the production and at least to one of the phases of processing or trade. The Consortium has become responsible for production specification, stock managing, new registration of the vines to a DO, supervision and protection.

In forest sector several practical applications need to consider the monetary value of social utility for each specific location and forest function. In this framework the aim of the paper is to implement a spatial analysis model able to link a set of methodologies for the quantification of the total economic value of the forests. The main characteristic of the proposed methodology is the achievement of a geographical dataset with high resolution that can be used for both ex-ante and ex-post Cost-Benefit Analysis and the improvement of spatially explicit forest planning and policy. The results of the application show that spatial analysis methodologies allow the aggregation of several variables and also facilitate the introduction of natural capital concepts into environmental decision-making processes. The analysis is implemented and verified in Tuscany region (central Italy).

The paper proposes a georeferred analytical model in order to verify at what extent the territorial element, in particular the role played by vine, represents a resource that is able to orientate the local development. The analysis has been done in different subsequent steps: firstly, it has been examined the relation between each of the 1.600 regional farm tourisms with the spatial distribution of viticulture, than, at county level, it has been examined the relation between the local farm tourism offer with the territorial diffusion of viticulture. The analytical model proposed gives an useful approach for the application of the most recent directions of communitarian, national and regional agricultural policies, because it allows to point out the relationships between territory-enterprise and territory-product and suggests an integrated model for rural development.

Human well-being is affected by the design quality of the city in which they live and walk. This depends primarily on specific physical characteristics and how they are aggregated together. Many studies have highlighted the great potential of photographic data shared on the Flickr platform for analyzing environmental perceptions in landscape and urban planning. Other researchers have used panoramic images from the Google Street View (GSV) web service to extract data on urban quality. However, at the urban level, there are no studies correlating quality perceptions detected by social media platforms with spatial geographic characteristics through geostatistical models. This work proposes the analysis of urban quality in different areas of the Livorno city through a methodological approach based on Geographical Random Forest regression. The result offers important insights into the physical characteristics of a street environment that contribute to the more abstract qualities of urban design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the performance of a sample of Italian microbreweries. For small and very small companies, performance analyses represent an important tool for the investigation of both the efficiency and the survival chances of the companies in the medium and long term. The methodology used consists of calculating different profitability and productivity indexes followed by a DEA model for the evaluation of the companies' efficiency. The results show that the companies operate at significantly low productivity levels and in conditions of technical inefficiency, due to both the inability of the managers to manage the inputs and the fact that companies operate at sub-optimal levels of scale. Lastly, profitability turns to be positive for two out of three indexes examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of geo-tagged photographs seems to be a promising alternative for assessing the scenic beauty of the agricultural landscape compared to the traditional investigation based on expert and perceptual approaches. The aim of this study is integrating the cumulative viewshed calculated from geotagged photo metadata publicly shared on Flickr with raster data on geomorphology, historical sites, and the natural environment, using landscape ecology metrics and Geographically Weighted Regression modelling. Crowdsourced data provided empirical assessments of the covariates associated with visitor distribution, highlighting how changes in infrastructure, crops and environmental factors can affect visitor's use. This information can help researchers, managers, and public planners to develop projects, plans and guidelines to increase the visual quality of the agricultural landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the evaluation of the visual quality of the cityscape of Livorno, in Italy. Using an algorithm based on Flickr's Application Programming Interface, the coordinates of 7,453 shooting points of a shared photo were downloaded. A direct survey was conducted to assess the perception of urban landscape. The geographical spaces to be evaluated were measured using 78 spherical images played in virtual reality through a virtual reality headset. The data were processed with the Principal Components Analysis. A Visual Quality Index (VQI) was developed to spatialise the results. Saliency maps were calculated to survey typical patterns in areas with high VQI. The results demonstrate how subjective visual perception helps identifying the criteria for the design of high-quality public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, the craft beer sector has developed significantly both in Europe and Italy. Through a SWOT analysis, the research highlights the main critical points of the Tuscan craft beer chain, in particular the use of local raw materials, which are mainly linked to the cereal malting process currently carried out by large non-regional plants. The research also shows that the high quality and the strong product differentiation are the main strength of the sector, since they meet the preferences of a niche of consumers attracted by products characterized by a strong bond with the territory. The major risks concern the introduction of "craft" lines by multinationals and the entry of new craft breweries, which are not in line with the microbreweries' quality standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess the perceived visual quality of the rural landscape in the Valdichiana aretina, Italy, through a survey conducted on a sample of ordinary people. The research comprises of three steps. First, the territory under study is divided into homogeneous landscape units through the implementation of GIS-based methodologies. Second, a photo-sampling of the area is carried out and a direct survey is conducted using the photographic material collected. Lastly, the information gathered is processed with the Multiple Factor Analysis technique. The results reveal that the visual quality of the landscape units is perceived differently according to the sets of variables summarized by the extracted components: composition and structure, stewardship and individual experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In forest sector several practical applications need to consider the monetary value of social utility for each specific location and forest function. In this framework the aim of the paper is to implement a spatial analysis model able to link a set of methodologies for the quantification of the total economic value of the forests. The main characteristic of the proposed methodology is the achievement of a geographical dataset with high resolution that can be used for both ex-ante and ex-post Cost-Benefit Analysis and the improvement of spatially explicit forest planning and policy. The results of the application show that spatial analysis methodologies allow the aggregation of several variables and also facilitate the introduction of natural capital concepts into environmental decision-making processes. The analysis is implemented and verified in Tuscany region (central Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]