Exposure of UNESCO sites to extreme meteorological events: case study of Alberobello (Southern Italy)

In recent years, interest in the study of natural disasters has grown considerably, linked both to the increase in the number of such events and to their effect on the territory. Statistical analyses reported in the scientific literature show that the context is constantly changing and that severe weather events are increasingly observed even at mid-latitudes. In this respect, Mediterranean area is a unique environment for the occurrence of atmospheric-related phenomena. Many studies have already been conducted with the aim of identifying the regions most prone to meteorological risk and, to this end, long-term analyses conducted by models are particularly indicative. In this study, we defined a methodology to identify which UNESCO sites are located in areas most exposed to such extreme events, the definition of which will be driven by climatological analyses. As an example we examined, by a multi-sensor analysis, a particularly interesting case study referring to the well-known UNESCO site of Alberobello, in Apulia (Italy).