ABSTRACT
Beaches, either sandy, gravel or mixed, cover 53 per cent of the 7500km-long Italian coast (GNRAC, 2006). Most accreted during the last 2500 years as a consequence of the huge outflow of river sediments caused by soil erosion, this being the result of intense deforestation accompanying demographic and economic development of the Italian peninsula (Pranzini, 1994). In addition river deltas formed in this time, and study of their beach ridges and foredunes allows reconstruction of events involving the population living in each watershed, just as tree rings allow reconstruction of past climates. In this way, detection of rapid delta growth in Roman times and erosion in the Early Middle Ages may be documented, a consequence of social instability caused by the fall of the Roman Empire. A new expansion started around 1000 CE with intense episodes in the 14th, 17th and 18th centuries. These were periods of great economic and demographic growth; the last one, in particular, saw widespread forest cutting to produce coal for the industrial boom. Erosion phases were also recognized in this period; the most evident one (14th century) can be related to the Black Death, which halved the Italian population and induced a strong forestry expansion, since most cultivated land was abandoned (Pranzini, 2001). Therefore, the wide Italian beaches are the result of what is defined today as a policy of land theft, based on progressive reduction of naturally vegetated areas, inducing landslides, accelerated soil erosion and floods.
