Tourism as a tool for natural hazard protection and territory development: Civita di Bagnoregio (Viterbo, Italy) as a case study

The village of Civita di Bagnoregio (Viterbo, Italy) represents a surreal landscape generated by accelerated soil erosion. The active landslides and erosive phenomena which are affecting Civita contributed to the progressive reduction of its surface and to its depopulation and currently require advanced engineering solutions to mitigate their impact. Furthermore they contributed to internationally increase the village fame, resulting in an increasing number of visitors over last years. The increasing touristic pressure on the village has been evaluated by taking into account also possible rising due to the recent candidature of Civita di Bagnoregio to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List (WHL). The high touristic pressure is triggering new critical issues highlighting the absence of a proper management plan: the data analysis highlighted the need to develop appropriate tourist numbers management strategies, considering also a partial re-investment of entrance fees for activities aimed to safeguard the village. The present research highlight that effects of tourist flows attracted by Civita di Bagnoregio could substantially contribute to both the safeguard of the village and the economical development of the territory. Properly distributed in the area by planning tourism decentralization policies based on an integrated valorisation of the territory it would be also possible to expand benefits deriving from the tourism sector to the entire Teverina area, transforming a stress factor into a development vector for the whole territory and the local population.