The landscape of the Amalfi coast: an endangered paradise

Amalfi’s landscape – a piece of those “sumptuous hanging gardens” which, according to Salvatore Quasimodo, “every man seeks constantly after the perfect places of childhood"- is formed by the juxtaposition of terraced agricultural patches overlooking the sea, and superimposed in an urban micro plot of small hamlets and scattered houses. This precious mosaic of cultivated areas by the sea has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997 for its “landscape richness, the result of both human intervention and the benevolent hand of nature, which makes it also a place full of charm where sea and mountains, passing through the wide open spaces for cultivation, merge in perfect harmony”. The crucial role of traditional agriculture, now in deep crisis, in the vital preservation of this landscape is therefore evident. This contribution describes the territory of the municipality of Amalfi and reports data from an historical and visual analysis, linked with a diachronic G.I.S. analysis of land use variations between 1950 and 2010, in order to assess the integrity and vulnerability of this endangered landscape.