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Landslide of ridge in Amalfi town.

Occurred on 2 Feb. 9:4ish AM. No injuries or deaths.

https://www.italy24news.com/en/2021/02/fear-in-amalfi-the-vagliendola-ridge-landslide.html

Yipes. I have driven and walked (Amalfi) on SR163 many times. The road is an amazing feat of human & donkey toil in its construction. Every time I traveled 163 (spring,late fall) we noticed workers on cliffs
repairing chain-link fencing strung/mounted on ridges over its roadway to prevent loose rock falls.
No fencing would hold back a slide of earth though. Not the first slide of earth, and certainly not the last
for this region.
With climate change and lemon groves not being tended to as in the past, the Amalfi Coast, though laden with rock, is even more fragile. That areas fragility becomes more evident for us when viewed from the sea where one can see the erosion & landslides of the past.

Anticipation to travel for us markedly increases when we read, hear of events like this.

Posted by
142 posts

I'm not sure what global warming has to do with any of this, as Italy south of Rome has been falling down, splitting, sliding, exploding volcanically, shaking via earthquakes and basically self-destructing geologically long, long, long before anybody ever whispered the words global warming. There are dozens upon dozens of ghost towns in Italy due to the ground instability with whole buildings falling off the sides of cliffs and towns becoming too dangerous to inhabit, some being abandon in whole, others being moved to the other side of the valley and so on. Not to mention ancient towns disappearing under volcanic activity or modern bridges collapsing.. Besides voluminous amounts of wine and a wonderful climate, another thing Italy is not lacking is geology in flux. The same soft tuft rock that has allowed Etruscans and Romans to dig entire towns underground, catacombs and churches into the rock also contributes to the lack of stability of the countryside.

Regardless hope remains nobody was hurt or died in the rockfall. For the moment it looks like that part of Amalfi is being transported back in time with access only through stairways and the ancient mule tracks.

Posted by
3812 posts

Nevertheless Mike, the climate in all southern Europe is changing towards a monsoon climate characterized by heavy rainfall in a few days/weeks followed by long dry seasons. As an example, 25 years ago the regional training courses for vine-growers were quite different because the farming calendar was quite different.

Such a change makes the traditional way of cliff handling with vines and fruit trees partly ineffective; especially when there is less and less people willing to make a living with one of the hardest jobs in farming.

Posted by
4105 posts

The area of Campania has many mini quakes a day. This undermines the soil and slides and sinkholes are the result. There was a stormm last week that also contributed.

Latest earthquakes in or near Napoli, Campania, Italy, past 30 days

Updated 7 Feb 2021 19:07 GMT - just now
During the past 30 days, Napoli had 1 quake of magnitude 2.2. There were also 50 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel.