A Challenge for Environmental Continuity in Italian Mountains

The Apennines is the peninsular mountain chain that runs the length of nearly 1200 km from northwest to southeast. It conjoins with the Alps at Colle di Cadibona, which is found between the regions of Liguria and Tuscany, and ends in the north of the island of Sicily at Monti Nebrodi and Monti Peloritani. The economic conditions of territories of the Apennines are extremely different from that of the Alps, as is also its inland latitudinal. Thru the centuries, in the northern sector of the Apennines, more utilizations - particularly agricultural and forestry related - spread due to morphology that is less harsh than that of the central sector. However, this has likewise entailed a major diffusion and density of the infrastructure with a greater parallel to environmental quality. The Central Apennines, with higher mountains and more tormented orography is self-defended through out all the historical eras preceding at the present time and is suffering the worst attacks to its natural integrity from forty years to today. The inclusive naturalness diminishes descending towards the south, then recovering again high levels of altitude in the regions of Basilicata and Calabria. Moreover, in the south-central areas the economy of the mountainous territories of the Apennines strongly relive difficult phenomena that, among other, for decades have characterized the zones of South Italy and the mountain amplifies due to major logistic problems of accessibility and an endowment of services.