A FUTURE FOR OLD TERRACES. OPPORTUNITIES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR THE RECOVERY OF ABANDONED AGRICULTURAL TERRACES OF THE AMALFI COAST

The agricultural terraces of the Amalfi Coast are the result of a deep alteration of the territory, caused by local communities over centuries, which have always tried to adapt it to its continuously changing needs. The original utility of the agricultural terraces is today the cause of their abandonment: to cultivate them is no more profitable. A degradation of the landscape is a consequence of this: the abandoned cultivations are gradually replaced by shrub vegetation, which cancels the graphics of terraces. The landscape restoration of abandoned agricultural terraces must be aimed at restoring the cancelled graphics, but the success of this action depends only on the recovery of the “convenience” of their reuse. Graphics and convenience which can be restored by adapt-ing terraces to new uses: for example by installing cold greenhouses leaned to walls and photovoltaic panels set on the surfaces of terraces. The paper ends with a simulation of the landscape effect of the interventions suggested and the suggestion of further necessary research lines.