The interest of the scientific community about geotourism is abruptly increasing, as well as that on geoparks. According to UNESCO, geoparks should define management policies addressed to increasing the awareness of local people and tourists about Earth’s dynamics to reduce the impact of climate change and natural disasters. With this aim in mind, we tried to provide a solid scientific approach to geotourism that could be useful to the development of a geotourism strategy in the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni (CVDA) Geopark, in Southern Italy. Starting from the official inventory of the CVDA Geopark, we defined the potential Education Value (EV) and potential Touristic Value (TV) of each of the 160 sites listed by applying the Brilha method. Then we selected 20 geosites and geomorphosites with high values of both the EV and TV, and we included them in two geoitineraries. The two geoitineraries move in the inner sector of the Geopark (i.e., from the Paestum archaeological area to the Vallo di Diano basin) and along a portion of the coastal stretch (i.e., from Punta Telegrafo cape to the Lambro and Mingardo rivers’ mouths). Selected sites are representative of several geoscience disciplines (e.g., geomorphology, structural geology, quaternary geology, hydrogeology), thus suggesting that the CVDA Geopark is an ideal place where dissemination of geoscience concepts may be carried out. The latter point enhances the high geotourism potential of the area. This kind of approach was not tried before in the CVDA Geopark and can be a useful example of how to promote touristic development strategies in the area.

In order to assess the geodiversity of the Italian Peninsula, which covers approximately 300.000 km², a semi-quantitative method based on the use of grids recording several indicators and indices was developed. The variety of geological, geomorphological, and pedological elements, characterizing the Italian territory, has been assessed with a two-step procedure. Firstly, the variety algorithm has been applied using grid cells with variable size, related to the spatial resolution of the input data, then the resulting variety values were averaged with a fixed cell size functional to the extent of the study area and the output scale of the geodiversity map. This procedure made it possible to preserve the spatial resolution of the input data (Digital Terrain Model, lithological and soil maps) providing as output a geodiversity map that faithfully reproduces the features of the Italian territory. In case of discrete data (rivers, lakes, glaciers, etc.), a procedure that assigns to each cell the maximum area or length values out of all its elements has been implemented. It made possible to preserve the hydrological elements that shape the landscape (e.g., the longest rivers, largest lakes, etc.) and represent important freshwater resource. An overview of the geographical distribution of geodiversity classes over the whole Italian territory has been elaborated. The resulting geodiversity map is a valuable tool for environmental planning, in particular for the identification of areas to be preserved, for the proper management of geo-resources and natural services.

Active volcanic calderas often experience significant ground deformation, characterized by uplift and subsidence, typically with a radial or elliptical pattern centered on the caldera. However, the detection of small second-order anomalies within the main deformation pattern can provide critical insight into impending eruptions and/or hazardous structural and volcano-tectonic features. In this study, we present a simple but novel method for detecting and interpreting second-order deformation anomalies at Campi Flegrei caldera by filtering the primary, radial deformation signal observed during volcanic unrest phases. For this purpose, we used a procedure based on the polynomial fit of vertical displacement data, assuming that they depend only on the distance from the deformation center. By subtracting the best fitting radial deformation from the observed vertical displacement, we generated an anomaly map that highlights sectors with unexpected deformation patterns. We applied the proposed procedure to analyze the ground deformation at the Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy) that occurred from 2016 to 2021, by using MT-InSAR data from Sentinel-1. Coeval GPS datasets were also used for cross-checking the obtained results. The results of this analysis show a pronounced NE-SW alignment that separates sectors with different uplift trends. It highlights a primary volcano-tectonic structure potentially linked to high seismic hazard. This method, after further investigation, can provide a valuable tool for improving hazard assessment and understanding the structural dynamics of calderas during unrest phases, with implications for improving preparedness in densely populated volcanic regions.

Collapse calderas often experience large up and down movements, which rarely give rise to eruptions. The pattern of vertical deformation has generally an elliptical geometry, very close to a circular one. A simple and powerful method to explore second order anomalies of the volcanic caldera deformation patterns can enlighten important structural features. This method is here presented and applied to the case study of Campi Flegrei caldera ground deformation, representing a typical example of such a quasi-circular geometry, with dominant ground uplift occurring since 1950. Despite a markedly radial dependence of the vertical displacement, with a very constant shape in the time, we explore in the paper the second order anomalies, with respect to a purely radial behavior. To this aim, we have used a procedure based on the polynomial fit of the vertical displacement data, assuming they only depend on the distance from the maximum uplift point (i.e. deformation center); then, we have obtained anomalies map by subtracting from the theoretical deformation so determined the true data. We then obtain very peculiar results, which put in evidence a sharp separation between a less uplifted zone and a more uplifted one than expected, along a NE-SW alignment which approximately define the most seismically active area, in which most of the largest magnitude earthquakes occur. This very peculiar feature is likely to represent a main volcano-tectonic structure in the area, which can be of leading importance for evaluating both the highest seismic hazard area and the most likely zone of possible eruptive vent opening. The results obtained here indicate that the proposed method can be useful to analyze unrest related hazards.