The Mediterranean area and particularly Italy, possesses an extraordinary material and immaterial Cultural Heritage of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV, as defined by ICOMOS) that must be protected and preserved, with particular emphasis on monuments, such as historic buildings (churches, castles, palaces, historic town centres, archaeological sites) which represent the historical memory of phases of settlement in different geographical contexts.
Over the last 20 years there has been a growing interest in conserving the sites protected by UNESCO which are threatened by natural calamities and human activities. In fact, many historical sites all around the world are threatened by the ravages of time and human interventions, but also by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, landslides, floods and volcanic eruptions.
To protect and preserve this heritage against human actions or natural disasters requires more and more to go beyond the national interests of each state, posing new and huge challenges for stakeholders and those in charge of heritage management. To evaluate the perils affecting heritage means considering a dynamic perspective, so as not to consider each hazard individually but paying attention to the close relationship existing between them. This demands also the investigation, with international standard methodologies, of the natural events that have already affected the site of interest through geological, geomorphological, and historical analyses correlated with the tangible evidences on the monuments by
using a rigorous approach to interpret written and oral clues correctly so as to constrain the conclusions about the occurrence, magnitude, physical features, and damage caused by the disasters as much as possible.
Starting from these considerations, the IBAM has carried out several studies during the last ten years. These research activities were conducted within the framework of regional and interregional research projects using traditional and innovative investigation methods, such as those implemented in the:
● Protect-Cult Project: Project for the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Territory in relation to the evolution of the landscape and geomorphological risk factors, between the Basilicata Region, the Basin Authority of Basilicata and the CNR-Department of Cultural Heritage (2008-2013). http://protect-cult.ibam.cnr.it/login_cnr. (Scient. Resp: Maurizio Lazzari).
● Pro_Cult Project: Advanced Methodological approaches and Technologies for Protection and Security of Cultural Heritage. Territorial cooperation project financed by the PO-FESR 2007-2013 (Basilicata region). (Scient. Resp: Nicola Masini).
● Project on "Monitoring and surveys of landslide events in Basilicata for protection and conservation of territory, settlements and Cultural
Heritage in relation to current and future climate regime" (2010-2013). (Scient. Resp.: Maurizio Lazzari and Antonello Pasini).
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