Search

The aim of this work is to outline how research conducted in the area of consumer science (CS) can guide the marketing strategies of a medium-sized dairy interested in relaunching its traditional Italian dairy product. The subject of the study is the Pecorino cheese produced by the Cooperative Grifo Latte, which has all its plants in Umbria (central Italy). A decrease in Pecorino cheese sales suggested to the Cooperative to undertake “Actions to support the commercialization of Pecorino cheeses” as part of an integrated project for the production chain named “Grifo Latte.” Market research began from these results and set out to respond to precise questions identified by the Grifo marketing manager in collaboration with university researchers, who conducted the investigation: “What interest and perception do Umbrian consumers have of traditional Pecorino cheeses and Pecorino with health benefits?” “What reputation do Grifo cheeses have with Umbrian consumers?” “What is the trade-off between the trademark of protected designated origin (PDO) and the Grifo trademark?” The technique of choice experiments was used.

The Bastardo Basin is one of the classics Apenninic intermontane basins of central Italy. They are en-closed tectonic basins (graben and semigraben) with high anthropization, but with high vulnerability, too (seismic, hydrogeological and geomorphological). The paper concerns some aspects about slope instability in the Bastardo Basin as part of a wider research, which aims to actually define the characteristics of the liability to landslides of the Apenninic intermontane basins. In particular lithological, stratigraphical and hydrogeological conditions are analysed under which a landslide near village of Barattano has developed. This mass movement, at different times, produced partial or total occlusion of the torrent Puglia. Here geognostic investigations together with laboratory tests and subsequent monitoring of landslide area were carried out. A back analysis, based on limit equilibrium solutions for the factor of safety of the slope, provided the residual strenght properties of the soil mass along the sliding surface. The landslide of Barattano is representative of a very frequent situation (in terms of type, factors and causes of the movement, possible development of the movement) not only within Bastardo Basin, but in general within Apenninic intermontane basins, too. The study of landslide and the design of appropriate remedial measures are of great importance in terms of prevention and mitigation of geologic-hydraulic risk in Apenninic intermontane basins.