Land capability classification of Vernazza catchment, Cinque Terre National Park, Italy

A land capability classification of the Vernazza catchment, part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Cinque Terre National Park, reveals that only 30% of the area is suitable for crop cultivation, but even these lands require meticulous management and conservation practices. The study leveraged a pedolandscape map, grounded in soil-landscape paradigms, to predict soil classes and their spatial distribution, which was then used to create a detailed land capability map at a 1:4000 scale. This approach highlights the severe limitations of most lands in the catchment, underscoring the need for sustainable territorial planning to balance agricultural use with conservation efforts in this historically terraced landscape.

Scopesi, C., Olivari, S., Firpo, M., Scarpellini, P., Pini, S., & Rellini, I. (2020). Land capability classification of Vernazza catchment, Cinque Terre National Park, Italy. Journal of Maps, 16(2), 357–362. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1750067