Aesthetic assessment of the landscape through the AHP and visual-perceptive methods. Application to the olive-growing landscape of the "Piana di Gioia Tauro"

The paper aims to compare two methods of evaluations of the landscape (AHP and visual-perception methods), in order to determine whether both methods maintain the same ranking of landscape preferences and assess their advantages and disadvantages. The methods belong to the non-monetary valuation methodologies of the landscape and are based on surveys, which seek to assess the visual perception that the interviewee has of the landscape. Operationally, we proceeded to landscape evaluation of olive-growing cultivation in the "Plain of Gioia Tauro". This area belongs to the province of Reggio Calabria (Italy) and is located on the southern Tyrrhenian coast, where there is a significant presence of to century-old olive plants, which make the area of great environmental and landscape value. In the work we have distinguished four types of olive-growing landscape that have been compared in the evaluation process of the visual quality through the two methodologies.