The St. Paul karst (Palawan, Philippines) is a tropical coastal karst, consisting of towers, cones, huge depressions and large caves. This area hosts the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River (PPSR, 24?km long), whose main entrance is a large spring along the coast and which is one of the largest cave complexes in eastern Asia. A geomorphological study performed by several field surveys and a morphometric analysis of the digital terrain model (DTM) and 3D cave models, allowed formulation of a first evolutionary framework of the karst system. The DTM was extracted from maps and aerial photographs in order to find different generations of ‘relict’ landforms, through the morphometric analysis of topographic surface and karst landforms. Several features suggest a long and multi-stage evolution of the karst, whose age ranges from Pliocene to present. The southern and northern sectors of the area differ in their altimetric distribution of caves. In the southern sector, some large caves lie between 300 and 400?m?asl and were part of an ancient system that developed at the base level of a past river network. In the northern sector, some mainly vadose caves occur, with a phreatic level at 120–130?m?asl. An important phase of base-level cave development is well documented in the inactive passages of PPSR at 50–80?m?asl. Morphological features, such as horizontal solution passages and terraced deposits, suggest a phase of stillstand of the base level, which is recorded in the topography as low-relief surfaces at 40–50?m?asl. The age of this phase is probably Early Pleistocene, on the basis of assumed uplift rates. The more recent caves are still active, being located at the current sea level, but they show more than one cycle of flooding and dewatering (with calcite deposition). In the PPSR, several morphologic features, such as two main water level notches at +12·4 and +7·7?m?asl and terraced alluvial deposits, suggest that the lower and active level passed through more than two high-stands of sea level and so it could have formed throughout most of the Middle-Late Pleistocene.INGLES

The conservation of a primary importance historical building requires organization, management, continuous updating, comparison, and visualization of a large amount of data of different nature and origin. In relation to these aspects the use of a GIS brings various advantages including single and univocal management of the entire amount of existing data in a relational, dynamic, updatable and queryable way. The integration of a mobile solution permits the updating of the dataset and checking on site all information. The workflow presented uses opensource solutions, desktop and mobile, which allows the creation of an unconventional lithological Field Mapping activity: starting from photo interpretation and in situ survey, all the coating materials (stone, etc.) of some monuments of primary historical and cultural interest have been mapped (i.e., Duomo di Firenze, Duomo di Prato). The product can be considered as a lithological cartography, vertically oriented, processed by field surveys, geognostic surveys and photo interpretation. All combined to create a “lithological” mapping of the coatings of the various monuments; the advantage is a new approach for conservation and restoration of Cultural Heritage. The proposed workflow involves a mobile solution, opensource, that allows the verification and management of the database in the field.

Saint John’s Baptistery in Florence (Italy), dating back to the XI century, represents one of the most outstanding historical buildings in the city, and has been under the UNESCO patronage as Cultural Heritage since 1982. In recent years, in the frame of a conservation project, detailed studies and mapping of all the tiles covering the Baptistery have been developed. Based on a laser-scan survey, a detailed wireframe model of all the external sides, reporting all the tiles and decor, has been developed. This model was implemented into a 2D-GIS, georeferenced in real scale and spatial position. An in situ survey of all the tiles, ashlars, inlays and columns, made in contradiction by experts in historical ornamental stones, allowed the recognition of several types of marble in place. All these marbles have been analyzed and characterized as geometric, geological and historical data, and the information implemented into a GIS for obtaining a spatial geodatabase representing a “box” to store all information achieved. All these data are manageable by web through smartphone, tablet and PC for querying or updating, thus representing an effective management tool for further conservation of such important historical cultural buildings.

The agricultural investigation of the italian Parliament, published in 1884, also highlighted, especially in reports on individual territorial districts, the importance of chestnut in the italian mountains. Since the early twentieth century are available long time series collected by ISTAT (National Statistics Institute) data on surface and production of the chestnut and foreign trade of the chestnuts. Key words:Role of the chestnut, statistics, multifunctionality, agricultural policy Official statistics and role of the chestnutThe chestnut (Castanea sativa Miller) is the breadfruit and the tree of life that precedes and then accompanies the first man in history. Since Roman times, and even more in the Middle Ages and in Modern times, Italy is the european territory in which the chestnut spreads further contributing increasingly to the survival of the mountaineer.In the second half of the nineteenth century, the widespread presence of chestnut still identifies two particular social and economic situations: "The international poverty and the chestnut" portrays the role of the chestnuts in human nutrition in large parts of the Alps and the Apennines and "The civilization of the chestnut" photographs with a still of the customs, traditions, use of timber, fruit and use rules that govern the lives of many mountaineers from Piemonte to Veneto, from Lombardia to Calabria [1].The agricultural investigation of the italian Parliament, published in 1884-1886, also highlighted, especially in reports on individual territorial districts, the importance of chestnut in the italian mountains [2].Since the early twentieth century are available long time series collected by Ministry of Finance [3] and ISTAT (National Statistics Institute) [4, 5, 6] data on surface and production of the chestnut and foreign trade of the chestnuts.The examination of the many available statistical data to divide the evolution of italian chestnut by the unit to date in four historical periods.Adua Mario, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT), email: adua@istat.it 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 Years The first period: "the autumn of the patriarch"The first period, from 1901 to 1950, "the autumn of the patriarch", is characterized by a general decrease in cultivation, however, maintains basically stable overall role of the italian mountain agro-forestry. In the early twentieth century, based on the conclusion of the Agricultural cadastre, it began the publishing of annual data of forestry; for 1910 it was estimated a total area in high forest of chestnut of 652 thousand hectares and a production of 607 thousand tons (Fig. 1). In 1911 it was observed the historical maximun of production: 830 thousand tons. In the thirties ISTAT (then Central Statistics Institute) [7] realizes the survey on the cultivation of chestnut in Italy -Years 1934. This survey is the picture sharper and more detailed on the role of the chestnut tree in the agricultural landscape and chestnuts in the diet. The survey shows a total area o...