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Costiera Amalfitana

Costiera Amalfitana

The Amalfi coast is an area of great physical beauty and natural diversity. It has been intensively settled by human communities since the early Middle Ages. There are a number of towns such as Amalfi and Ravello with architectural and artistic works of great significance. The rural areas show the versatility of the inhabitants in adapting their use of the land to the diverse nature of the terrain, which ranges from terraced vineyards and orchards on the lower slopes to wide upland pastures.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Côte amalfitaine

La bande littorale d'Amalfi est d'une grande beauté naturelle. Elle a été intensivement peuplée depuis le début du Moyen Âge. Elle comporte un certain nombre de villes telles qu'Amalfi et Ravello qui abritent des œuvres architecturales et artistiques particulièrement remarquables. Ses zones rurales témoignent de la faculté d'adaptation de ses habitants qui ont su tirer parti de la diversité du terrain pour le cultiver, depuis les vignobles et les vergers en terrasses sur les pentes basses, jusqu'aux grands pâturages des hautes terres.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

الساحل الأمالفي

يتميّز شريط "أمالفي" الساحلي بجمال طبيعي كبير. فقد أصبح مأهولاً بكثافة منذ بداية القرون الوسطى. وهو يتضمن عددًا من المدن مثل "أمالفي" و"رافيلّو" اللتين تحتويان على أعمال هندسية وفنية مميزة. وتشهد مناطقه الريفية على قدرة سكانه على التكيّف هم الذين عرفوا كيف يستفيدون من تنوع الأراضي فيه ليزرعوها من الكروم والبساتين بالمدرجات على المنحدرات المنخفضة حتى المراعي الكبرى في الأراضي العليا.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

阿马尔菲海岸景观

阿马尔菲海岸环境优美、自然景观丰富多彩。从中世纪早期始,人类社会就在此地定居生活。此地有一大批像阿马尔菲和拉韦洛这样的小城市,它们都拥有不少重要的建筑和艺术作品。这里的农村地区也由于此地地理环境的多样性而被充分加以利用,偏下的坡地由阶梯式的葡萄园和果园构成,靠上面的坡地则是牧场。

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Костьера-Амальфиана – Амальфийское побережье

Амальфийское побережье, район удивительной красоты и природного разнообразия, был плотно заселен еще в раннем средневековье. Здесь расположено много городов, таких как Амальфи и Равелло, в которых имеются архитектурные и художественные произведения большого значения. Сельская местность демонстрирует изобретательность жителей в приемах землепользования, приспособленных к особенностям ландшафтов – это террасированные виноградники и сады на нижних частях склонов, и обширные пастбища на более возвышенных участках.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Costa Amalfitana

La faja litoral amalfitana es de una gran belleza y posee una rica biodiversidad natural. Intensamente poblada desde principios de la Edad Media, esta región costera comprende ciudades como Amalfi y Ravello, que albergan obras arquitectónicas y artísticas muy notables. El paisaje rural atestigua la capacidad de adaptación de los habitantes, que han sabido aprovechar la diversidad del terreno cultivando viñedos y huertos en terrazas construidas en las laderas bajas y conservando las tierras altas para vastos pastizales.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

アマルフィ海岸
ソッレントからサレルノに至る約30kmにわたる眺望絶景の海岸線。垂直に海中に吸込まれていく岩壁。点在する高い吊り橋や岩礁にそそり立つサラセンの風の塔、中世初期以来の人間の営みを物語る魚村群のやさしい佇まい。アマルフィやラヴェルロの町には、すぐれた建築物や芸術作品が残されている。

source: NFUAJ

Costiera Amalfitana

De kust van Amalfi is een uitstekend voorbeeld van een mediterraans panorama met uitzonderlijke culturele en natuurlijke landschappelijke waarden, een gevolg van de dramatische topografie en historische evolutie. Het gebied werd sinds de vroege Middeleeuwen intensief bewoond door menselijke gemeenschappen. Langs de kustlijn liggen een aantal steden zoals Amalfi en Ravello met architectonische en artistieke werken van grote betekenis. De plattelandsgebieden tonen de veelzijdigheid van de inwoners bij de aanpassing van hun grondgebruik aan het uiteenlopende karakter van het gebied dat varieert van terrasvormige wijngaarden en boomgaarden op de lagere hellingen tot brede, hooggelegen weiden.

Source: unesco.nl

Outstanding Universal Value

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.

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