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The Mefite site in Ansanto Valley is located in the Rocca San Felice municipality (Province of Avellino, Campania Region, Italy), namely in Irpinia: this region was in ancient times inhabited by Hirpini (the where part of the local tribal system). The site is in the same time inserted in a wide rural landscape preservin0067 still today a high grade of naturality. As regards the geological structures, they are to be quoted at least 55 geosites, object of recent research aimed at identifying Geodiversity in Campania Region. Due to its environmental features, the site of Mefite has been known since antiquity as a site of deadly exhalations and place of manifestation of the eponymous goddess: his name should derive from “meudh,” literally “she who is in the middle”, link between the opposing life/death and heaven/earth. Archeological data witness the presence in V cent. b.C. of a cult referred to the goddess named Mephitis, namely the divinity living in the land of the middle between heaven and infernal word. She was worshipped because of her recognized influence on waters, fertility, and rural life. Probably, in the time of Late Roman Empire, decaying the christian rituals took the place of pagan ones. The long period of silence characterizing Middle Ages was interrupted by the numerous information aquired through the notes reported by common travelers and famous people too. As a matter of fact in the nineteenth century and in the first part of twentieth century, the mephitic phenomena related to the site where associated to the ones taking place in the near Phlegrean area. From this issue derives the theory of a volcanic origin of the place. The existing theory linked to mephitic phenomenology in not universally shared, in the same time we can surely exclude any volcanic origin of the matter but considering the evaluation of some geo- and biochemical elements. The carbon dioxide exceptional amount is related to the emission of some “traps” created during the construction of tectonic Apenninic orogenesis; the weak thermalism of the area and the presence of hydrocarbon are eventually compatible with the explanation given. The very place is a sort of natural lab for studying some endemic species able to survive in extreme survival conditions. Aiming at characterizing the importance and the geotouristic value, the site of Mefite has been evaluated following some appropriate criteria. For instance, making a comparison among different local geosite features using the most widely used assessment methods, through this process is evident that the site of Mefite is absolutely provided of the best qualitative elements in term of scientific, panoramical, and relational potentialities. The opinions so collected suggest some specific policies having the purpose of promoting and preserving the area. In conclusion, this study states that the Mefite is a valuable Geoarcheosite in a major area aiming at respecting and enhancing local traditions and customs to stimulate a kind of a sustainable and responsible geotourism.

The aim of this paper is highlighting the strong vine–wine vocation of the Campania inland (southern Italy) through the description of the physical features of two areas, in which two fine wines are produced: the Guardiolo, from the western sector of the Sannio area, and the Greco di Tufo, from northern Irpinia. Recently, initiatives were developed to promote these territories. They allowed attracting tourists and making these areas well-known. In order to indirectly contribute to achieve this goal, some noticeable features of the local landscape have to be considered. In fact, a careful analysis shows that they are often very important for the quality of vines and wines. Therefore, the knowledge of these features, i.e., geology, geomorphology, and pedology, especially when they are representative of the whole landscape and are attributable to the terroir, can also improve the enhancement of the territory by increasing sensitivity to the geological heritage. In this sense, the geological and geomorphological features occurring in these two wine production areas of the Campania region, which emphasize the local history and the original traditions of vine cultivation and wine production, were considered and described in this paper.

This paper illustrates a project, developed in a Geographic Information System (GIS), about the promotion and dissemination of geo-sites and geomorphosites identified in the Avellino Province territory (Campania). The aim of the project is the realization of a training/educational/cognitive route about the geo-environmental assets of the Hirpinian territory so that different users will use and managed it by Hi-Tech devices and similar products. The geo-tourist resources could complete a local tourist offer that is still not fully exploited. This has already happened in other protected areas in Italy and foreign countries. The update of tourist offer would also contribute to the economic development of local communities and, at the same time, it would be an upgrade to the advanced technological knowledge and the dissemination of attractive resources of the Hirpinian territory.Various GIS databases designed to achieve thematic maps that could potentially be exploited as online geo-tourist maps or as tools for spatial planning. About sixty geosites and geomorphosites, some partially known and others completely new, were counted in the study area and then information/cognitive file-cards were created in Access and imported into GIS (QGIS 2.6 v. open source). Thanks to the development and overlap of acquired metadata, new and more complete interactive digital maps were obtained. They can be used as informational support and easily managed in Hi-Tech service systems platforms.

The Landscape of Irpinia (Campania, Italy) is one of the few Italian landscapes which, to a large extent, has been preserved from the Great Transformation which started after World War II. Both the natural architectures and the environmental specificities of this area testify an almost perfect maintenance of the local landscape resources, these latter resulting from the peculiar combination of geological and geomorphological features, on which the signs of civilizations superimposed are currently clearly recognizable. The Irpinian landscape could potentially show its high cultural value, also of didactic interest, in the framework of a high-quality tourism, based on winter-sports activities, naturalistic trekking, tours of archaeological sites and monuments, tasting local gastronomic products. Many Irpinian areas could represent also a link between the Human and Earth Sciences, as the geological processes always deeply interacted with the historical development of the local populations. Certainly, geotourism could create and/or increase interest around these sites of high cultural and naturalistic value, which were visited and described by learned travellers of the Grand Tour. In this way Geotourism could represent a new perspective of sustainable development for these areas, where a weak economy primarily based on agriculture didn't take advantage from the industrialization. To exploit the touristic resources, described in the first part of this paper, new abilities are required in Earth and Human Sciences to understand any mutual interaction. To the knowledge of Authors is necessary to expand a tourism with a salient, more and more identifiable cultural connotation.

Ce travail a pour objectif d'étudier les rapports entre la sensibilité des versants aux mouvements de masse et différents facteurs, dont le régime pluviométrique, dans une région de l'Apennin méridional caractérisée par sa grande complexité litho-structurale.Le régime des précipitations a été défini à partir de séries de données de longue durée, qui ont permis de calculer de nombreux indices climatiques. Parmi eux, sont présentés ici ceux qui ont une importance particulière en matière de déclenchement et de développement des phénomènes d'érosion.L'utilisation d'un Système d'Information Géographique a permis d'élaborer une carte de sensibilité aux mouvements de masse, qui associe différentes couches d'information. Cette carte reprend des documents intermédiaires qui définissent le milieu (carte des unités physiographiques et carte des systèmes territoriaux). Mais elle leur surimpose la localisation des évènements (écoulements boueux, coulées boueuses, glissements de terrain et éboulements) répertoriés dans la base informatisée IFFI qui regroupe tous les évènements connus, récents ou attestés par les archives historiques.Sur les 122 évènements précisément datés de la base AVI (1941-2000), 21 se sont produits en novembre 1980 et 37 en janvier 1997. Les premiers sont en rapport avec le fort séisme qui a frappé l'Italie du Sud le 23 novembre 1980. Les seconds correspondent à des précipitations mensuelles abondantes, mais pas exceptionnelles, sur le bassin du Miscano, ce qui traduit l'inadéquation des pluies mensuelles pour définir l'agressivité pluviométrique.Les données de base et les cartes obtenues font ressortir l'importance de la lithologie et du relief dans la répartition spatiale des évènements. Les précipitations ne sont pas suffisamment hétérogènes à l'échelle du terrain d'étude pour constituer un facteur réellement discriminant. Les évènements sont particulièrement nombreux sur les terrains argileux ou marneux sur des pentes fortes. Ils sont rares, en revanche, sur les pentes très faibles des parties aval des bassins de l'Ufita et du Calaggio. This work studies the relationship between the sensibility of slopes to mass movement and different factors, including rainfall regime, in a part of the Southern Apennines characterized by a high litho-structural complexity.Rainfall regime has been defined from a series of long-term data, which have made it possible to calculate a number of climatic levels. Here are presented those that are of particular importance in triggering and development of erosion phenomena.Using GIS technology, we have developed a map of sensibility to mass movements, which associates different information layers. This map is constructed through other intermediate maps (map of the physiographic units, map of the territorial systems), but it superimposes the location of the mass movements (mud flows, debris flows, landslides, rock-falls) listed in the IFFI database which includes all known events, recent or attested by historical archives.Of the 122 events precisely dated of the AVI database (1941-2000), 21 occurred in November 1980 and 37 in January 1997. The first are the consequence of the strong earthquake that struck Southern Italy on November 23, 1980. The others correspond to abundant but no exceptional monthly rainfall in the Miscano basin, reflecting the inadequacy of the monthly values to define the rainfall aggressiveness.The data and maps obtained emphasize the importance of lithology and relief of the survey in the spatial distribution of mass movements. Rainfall is not a really discriminating factor on the study area. The events of instability are particularly numerous on the clayey and marly slopes steeply inclined. On the contrary, they are rare on the very slightly inclined slopes of the downstream part of the Ufita and Calaggio basins.

L'identité d'un territoire et de la communauté qui l'habite peut être décrite de bien des manières. L'Irpinie (Apennin méridional, Campanie, Italie) est considérée depuis les temps préhistoriques comme une charnière entre les deux mers, l'Adriatique et la mer Tyrrhénienne, une terre de traversée, vue en projection horizontale. Mais l'Irpinie est riche en lieux de culte, en relation avec la dimension "verticale" et avec la grande quantité de géosites présents dans ce territoire. Quelques itinéraires réunissent ces sites présentant une dimension sacrée, dans un parcours qui offre la vision d'un territoire presque intact du point de vue paysager et environnemental, pour lequel le géotourisme – aisément connectable à d'autres formes en expansion de distraction et d'apprentissage culturel, dont le tourisme religieux – devient une ressource importante, conformément au modèle du développement durable.Hirpinia (Southern Apennines, Campania, Italy), since prehistoric time, is considered a connecting zone between both seas, Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian Sea; a crossing land, in horizontal way. But Hirpinia is rich in places of worship, linked with the vertical dimension and many geosites presents in his territory. Some routes gather these sites interested by sacred installations in a downward journey which delineates the vision of an intact territory in landscaped and environmental point of view. Therefrom, geotourism becomes an important resource for economic improvement according to the model of the sustainable development.

Please click here to download the map associated with this article. Thematic maps of elevation, slope angle, lithology, soil slips and landslides, land-use and stream erosional effects are presented for the description of the geoenvironmental features of the Calaggio Stream catchment area. The Calaggio basin is 314 km2 and is located in the Campanian Apennines (Southern Italy) between the Campania and Puglia regions. The maps were produced within a Geographical Information System (GIS) based on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from cartographic digitization. The maps presented report the main territorial features of the studied area, which will be used for landuse management and mapping of: landslides and susceptibility to water runoff erosion, desertification vulnerability, landscape conservation, Physical Environmental and Territorial Unit determinations (PET Unit sensu Amatucci et al., 2005), etc. In this paper we show, as a final product of various GIS environment operations, the PET U...

In this paper, two simple GIS-based methodologies have been used to assess the landslide susceptibility in a basin located in Southern Italy. The methodologies at issue, based on the spatial distribution of landslides and/or of causal factors, are bivariate statistics-based and expert-based, respectively. The spatial distribution of both the landslides and the causal factors has been investigated by integrating pre-existing and original data, which have been processed using ArcView GIS 3.2 software. The obtained results, consisting of landslide susceptibility maps have been compared and discussed. The bivariate statistics-based method has provided the most satisfying results. On the contrary, the expert-based method has provided a classification of the study area in terms of landslide susceptibility which does not completely fit with the surveyed spatial distribution of the landslides.