Costiera Amalfitana (original) (raw)

Brief synthesis

The Costiera Amalfitana, stretches along the southern coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula in Salerno province and can rightly be defined as a landscape of outstanding cultural value, thanks to the astonishing work of both nature and humankind. Its dramatic topography and historical evolution have produced exceptional cultural and natural scenic values. Nature is both unspoiled and harmoniously fused with the results of human activity. The landscape is marked by rocky areas, wood and maquis, but also by citrus groves and vineyards, grown wherever human beings could find a suitable spot.

The Costiera Amalfitana covers 11,231 hectares, a large area that encompasses 15 municipalities, agricultural lands and three natural reserves. The region has been populated since prehistoric times as illustrated by the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic remains found at Positano. While it became a Roman colony in the 4th century, the region has been intensively settled since the beginning of Middle Ages.

On the southern side of the peninsula, a natural border is formed by Lattari Mountains which extends from peaks of Picentini Mountains as far as Tyrrhenian Sea, dividing the Gulf of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno. The World Heritage property is composed of four main coastal areas (Amalfi, Atrani, Reginna Maior, and Reginna Minor) and some secondary areas (Positano, Praiano, Cetara, and Erchie), with the characteristic villages of Scala, Tramonti and Ravello, and the hamlets of Conca and Furore. Several of these historical centres, flourished during the period of the great power hold by the Amalfi Sea Republic and, as a result, contain numerous artistic and architectural masterpieces, some of which are the result of the fusion of eastern and western elements known as “Arabic-Norman” style. Agricultural areas are witness to the capacity of its inhabitants to adapt, in the best way, to the different types of land. They developed terrace cultivation for vineyards and fruit gardens in the bottom area and practiced sheep-farming in the upper area.

Criterion (ii): The Costiera Amalfitana is an outstanding cultural landscape with exceptional cultural and natural scenic values resulting from its dramatic topography and historical evolution. Much of its architecture and artistic works reflect a fusion of eastern and western influences linked to the period of the economic power of Amalfi Sea Republic between the 9th and 11th centuries.

Criterion (iv): The Costiera Amalfitana is an outstanding example of a Mediterranean landscape that has evolved over many centuries in an area of great physical beauty and natural diversity. It has been intensively settled since the early Middle Ages. There are a number of towns, such as Amalfi and Ravello, with architectural and artistic works of great significance.

Criterion (v): The Costiera Amalfitana represents an example of complex settlement since within it there is an exceptional diversity of landscape types, ranging from ancient urban settlements through areas of intensive land-use and cultivation and pastoralism to areas untouched by human intervention. The complex topography and resulting climatic variations provide habitats with an exceptional range of plant species within a relatively confined area.

Integrity

The extended area of the Costiera Amalfitana contains all fundamental and necessary components to express its Outstanding Universal Value. The boundary encloses a wide territory characterized by terraced gardens near the sea, harsh mountains dropping away on the coast, and a natural habitat particularly rich and diverse in vegetation. The historical centres have witnessed the particular settlement evolution connoted by simultaneous values of a country, urban, mountain and sea culture.

Threats identified for the area include environmental pressure and natural disasters such as landslides and earthquakes as well as the pressure of intense tourism visitation in some urban areas particularly due to vehicular traffic.

Authenticity

The overall authenticity of the landscape as a whole with its rich diversity of scenery and settlement is high. Peculiar features of the site have been preserved over the centuries.

The original layout and form of many of the urban areas have been dictated by the coastal geography. Their narrow streets and steep stairs are reminiscent of eastern souks. Agriculture of citrus groves, olive orchards and vineyards are supported along the terraced slopes bounded by drystone walls. In some parts of the Costiera the natural landscape survives intact, with little, if any, human intervention. Some of these areas are accessed by ancient, narrow mountain paths or mule tracks that historically connected farms and villages. Traditional activities continue including crafts such as the ceramics influenced by Arabic culture, farming and some types of fishing.

Protection and management requirements

The Costiera Amalfitana has been safeguarded by Italian law for many years and protection exists at the national, regional and local levels. The site is preserved as landscape by Decreto Legislativo 42/2004, the Code of cultural heritage and landscape, a safeguarding measure which is applied in areas declared by a law decree to be of interest for their landscape resources. There are legal decrees recognising the great landscape value for all the municipalities within the property and individual ministerial decrees under which the whole territory is under landscape protection. In these areas, authorization for any form of intervention is granted or denied by the relevant authority (the Municipalities and the Soprintendenza, peripheral office of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism in charge of protection).

The territory of the coast is protected regionally by the Urban Territorial Plan (with value of Landscape Plan), approved by a regional law that also identifies historical-cultural aspects of the landscape which is subjected to careful protection.

Apart from protected landscape of the Costiera Amalfitana, individual buildings are also preserved by the Code of cultural heritage and landscape, which covers public and ecclesiastic buildings and about 50 private buildings that are considered of great historical and cultural value. Any activity must be authorized by the relevant Soprintendenza which can deny it for conservation reasons, authorize intervention with limitations, or authorize only an intervention which does not damage the resource in question. In addition to recognized buildings of cultural interest, other complexes worthy of protection have been identified through inventory campaigns.

At regional level, the area is protected by a series of laws. These provide approval to the land coordination and landscape management plan for Sorrento and Amalfi, within which the mentioned area is located. The objectives of this plan are to restore the relationship of the peninsula and its territory, protect the environment (both natural and human-made), provide for soil conservation, upgrade urban infrastructure, and enhance the role of tourism as a positive force. Furthermore, a wider territory than the property is protected under a regional decree as Parco Regionale dei Monti Lattari. Consequently, the property has additional protection under the park’s management plan. At the local level, urban planning instruments define further preservation laws for historical centres.

Property ownership is distributed among central, regional, provincial, and local administrations as well as many private individuals and institutions. The Comunità Montana ‘Penisola Amalfitana’ is established by law in order to prepare policies for the development and enhancement of local resources and the coordination of all planning, implementation and management of public works and programmes. The legislation was set up with the objective to accelerate the decision-making process and achieve a more cost-effective management of public affairs. Long-term socio-economic development plans are also prepared under this legislation to strengthen and develop economic activities and improve social services. Overall supervision for the protection of heritage is the responsibility of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and its peripheral office.

The main elements have been entered in a database, which is part of the Management Plan. These elements are monitored through data bank cross-collations which are available on an interactive portal. The Management Plan of Costiera Amalfitana is designed to assist in the coherent implementation of territorial policies that preserve heritage value for the property. From this point of view, this document provides for a coordination role in the preservation of the site’s integrity, moreover, it combines preservation and protection with development and valorisation of historical, cultural and local environmental resources in order to create a compatible local process shared by several economic and institutional organizations, which represent different and occasionally opposing interests. Furthermore, some designated monuments in the area have been subjected to systematic conservation programmes for many years. Following the introduction of the requirement to produce urban management plans, more attention is being paid to towns and villages.

No buffer zone has been defined for this property as initially its large size and local topography deemed it unnecessary. Nevertheless, to sustain the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, the creation of a buffer zone would be considered beneficial.