The analysis of shoreline changes is very important for coastal planning and management. In territories such as Calabria (Italy), characterized by significant anthropogenic pressures and various eroded coasts, the knowledge of the shoreline changes, and the factors that influence them, is necessary for management and planning of coastal areas. In fact, shoreline position is one of the most important indicators of coastal dynamics. From this point of view recent advances in remote sensing and GIS techniques allow to estimate with great precision the shoreline changes over the years. The paper analyzes the shoreline changes near the mouth of the Sant'Agata River (Reggio Calabria, Italy), carried out through the comparison of various cartography data. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the main factors influencing the coastal dynamics in order to identify possible correlation between these factors and the shoreline changes. The analysis of these factors shows that, in this case study, the rainfall regime has a considerable influence on shoreline change. The methodology described in this paper is particularly useful for better understanding the factors that most influence the coastal balance and, therefore, is applicable to many contexts which are similar to the Sant'Agata river mouth.

The considerable anthropic pressure that has affected most of Italian territory in the last 60 years has altered natural conditions of coasts and river, thus increasing exposure to environmental risks. For example, increase in soil waterproofing caused a reduction in hydrological losses with a rise in flood flows (with the same rainfall conditions), especially in urban areas. This issue is important in territories like Mediterranean region, that are prone to flooding events. From this point of view, recent advances in remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) techniques allow us to analyze morphological changes occurred in river and in urban centers, in order to evaluate possible increases in environmental risks related to the anthropization process. This paper analyzes and describes the effects of anthropization process on some rivers in the southern area of the Reggio Calabria city (the Sant'Agata, Armo and Valanidi rivers). This is a heavily anthropized area due to the presence of the airport, highway and houses. The analysis was carried out using QGIS, through the comparison of cartography data of the last 60 years, which consists of aerophotogrammetry of 1955, provided by Italian Military Geographic Institute, and the latest satellite imagery provided by Google Earth Pro.

Coastal flooding is a danger to people who live near coasts. It is therefore necessary to increase knowledge of the causes of coastal flooding through scientific research. Furthermore, the correct assessment of flooding areas is very important for the management of coastal areas. Given this, the current European legislation (Directive 2007/60/EC) requires flood areas to be mapped, but to date in Italy each region is still adopting different procedures to map their flood areas. This paper, through two case studies, analyzes the hazard, damage and risk mapping of coastal flooding areas. The cases are related to two Calabrian towns, located along the Ionian coast (Monasterace), and the Tyrrhenian coast (Scilla), with both particularly prone to coastal flooding. In particular, with regards to the hazard mapping, the effects of sea storms and climate changes were taken into account. The damage assessment followed an "ex ante" approach, based on the employment of land use maps, in accordance with current Italian legislation. Furthermore, risk maps were added, and obtained by combining both damage and hazard maps. Finally, a comparison with previous events allowed us to verify the validity of the proposed methodology.

Coastal flooding is a topic of particular interest both in scientific research and for public administration. In fact, effective management of both coastal erosion and coastal flood risk requires a mapping of flooding areas by current European legislation (Directive 2007/60/EC). Regarding Italy, coastal erosion is widely studied and mapped, but coastal flooding has not been uniformly examined across all regions. This paper analyses the main factors that influence coastal flooding, being mainly tidal excursion and run-up, and a new methodology is proposed for the classification of storm damage based on the effects produced by the coastal wave action. In fact, six classes of damage have been defined, sorted by increasing severity, namely: traffic interruption, infrastructure damage, maritime works damage, erosion of beaches and dunes, flooding to homes, and a combination of these various factors. The new classification was applied to two case studies, both in Calabria (Italy): Scilla on the Tyrrhenian coast, and Monasterace on the Ionian coast. The two locations were chosen because in Scilla the coastal morphology makes it particularly subject to storms that overreach the beach and reach local houses, even those located upstream of the seafront. In Monasterace, on the other hand, there is an important archaeological site on a coastal dune that, over the years, has often been damaged by sea storms. The analysis of the events was conducted starting with data present in the A.Si.Cal. (Historically flooded areas in Calabria) of the CNR-IRPI of Cosenza, which containing data relating to events of hydrogeological instability, including sea storms which have occurred in Calabria over the last few centuries, and from the MeteoCean group of the University of Genoa, which contains wave data for the period 1979-2017, which is reconstructed from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data.