IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i14p6608-d1705529.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Natural and Anthropic Constraints on Historical Morphological Dynamics in the Middle Stretch of the Po River (Northern Italy)

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Turconi

    (National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135 Turin, Italy)

  • Barbara Bono

    (National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135 Turin, Italy)

  • Carlo Mambriani

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

  • Lucia Masotti

    (Dipartimento di Culture e Civiltà, Università degli Studi di Verona, Viale dell’Università 4, 37129 Verona, Italy)

  • Fabio Stocchi

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

  • Fabio Luino

    (National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135 Turin, Italy)

Abstract

Geo-historical information deduced from geo-iconographical resources, derived from extensive research and the selection of cartographies and historical documents, enabled the investigation of the natural and anthropic transformations of the perifluvial area of the Po River in the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy). This territory, significant in terms of its historical, cultural, and environmental contexts, for centuries has been the scene of flood events. These have characterised the morphological and dynamic variability in the riverbed and relative floodplain. The close relationship between man and river is well documented: the interference induced by anthropic activity has alternated with the sometimes-damaging effects of river dynamics. The attention given to the fluvial region of the Po River and its main tributaries, in a peculiar lowland sector near Parma, is critical for understanding spatial–temporal changes contributing to current geo-hydrological risks. A GIS project outlined the geomorphological aspects that define the considerable variations in the course of the Po River (involving width reductions of up to 66% and length changes of up to 14%) and its confluences from the 16th to the 21st century. Knowledge of anthropic modifications is essential as a tool within land-use planning and enhancing community awareness in risk-mitigation activities and strategic management. This study highlights the importance of interdisciplinary geo-historical studies that are complementary in order to decode river dynamics in damaging flood events and latent hazards in an altered river environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Turconi & Barbara Bono & Carlo Mambriani & Lucia Masotti & Fabio Stocchi & Fabio Luino, 2025. "Natural and Anthropic Constraints on Historical Morphological Dynamics in the Middle Stretch of the Po River (Northern Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-34, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6608-:d:1705529
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6608/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6608/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniela Smiraglia & Alice Cavalli & Chiara Giuliani & Francesca Assennato, 2023. "The Increasing Coastal Urbanization in the Mediterranean Environment: The State of the Art in Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Doriano Castaldini & Mauro Marchetti & Gianluca Norini & Vittoria Vandelli & Maria Clara Zuluaga Vélez, 2019. "Geomorphology of the central Po Plain, Northern Italy," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 780-787, July.
    3. Fabio Luino & Mariano Barriendos & Fabrizio Terenzio Gizzi & Ruediger Glaser & Christoph Gruetzner & Walter Palmieri & Sabina Porfido & Heather Sangster & Laura Turconi, 2023. "Historical Data for Natural Hazard Risk Mitigation and Land Use Planning," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Andrea Strollo & Daniela Smiraglia & Roberta Bruno & Francesca Assennato & Luca Congedo & Paolo De Fioravante & Chiara Giuliani & Ines Marinosci & Nicola Riitano & Michele Munafò, 2020. "Land consumption in Italy," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 113-123, January.
    5. Günter Blöschl & Andrea Kiss & Alberto Viglione & Mariano Barriendos & Oliver Böhm & Rudolf Brázdil & Denis Coeur & Gaston Demarée & Maria Carmen Llasat & Neil Macdonald & Dag Retsö & Lars Roald & Pet, 2020. "Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years," Nature, Nature, vol. 583(7817), pages 560-566, July.
    6. Pierre Deschamps & Nicolas Durand & Edouard Bard & Bruno Hamelin & Gilbert Camoin & Alexander L. Thomas & Gideon M. Henderson & Jun'ichi Okuno & Yusuke Yokoyama, 2012. "Ice-sheet collapse and sea-level rise at the Bølling warming 14,600 years ago," Nature, Nature, vol. 483(7391), pages 559-564, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabrizio Terenzio Gizzi & Vittorio Bovolin & Paolo Villani & Maria Rosaria Potenza & Simona Voria & Antonio Minervino Amodio, 2024. "Rewinding the Tape: Documentary Heritage to (Re)discover “Lost” Natural Hazards—Evidence and Inferences from Southern Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-39, March.
    2. Yusuke Yokoyama & Kurt Lambeck & Patrick Deckker & Tezer M. Esat & Jody M. Webster & Masao Nakada, 2022. "Towards solving the missing ice problem and the importance of rigorous model data comparisons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-4, December.
    3. Tommaso Orusa & Annalisa Viani & Enrico Borgogno-Mondino, 2024. "Earth Observation Data and Geospatial Deep Learning AI to Assign Contributions to European Municipalities Sen4MUN: An Empirical Application in Aosta Valley (NW Italy)," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Francisco Javier Torrijo & Santiago Álvarez & Julio Garzón-Roca, 2024. "A Case Study of a Macro-Landslide in the High Mountain Areas of the Ecuadorian Andes: “La Cría” at the Azuay Province (Ecuador)," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-23, November.
    5. Ben Seiyon Lee & Murali Haran, 2025. "A class of models for large zero-inflated spatial data," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 30(3), pages 746-768, September.
    6. Andrea Molocchi, 2021. "Circular Economy and Environmental Sustainability: A Policy Coherence Analysis of Current Italian Subsidies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-38, July.
    7. Livia Calcagni & Alessandra Battisti, 2025. "Mapping Opportunities for Floating Urban Development Along Italian Waterfronts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Giulia Cecili & Paolo De Fioravante & Pasquale Dichicco & Luca Congedo & Marco Marchetti & Michele Munafò, 2023. "Land Cover Mapping with Convolutional Neural Networks Using Sentinel-2 Images: Case Study of Rome," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, April.
    9. Marini, Michele & Caro, Dario & Thomsen, Marianne, 2023. "Investigating local policy instruments for different types of urban agriculture in four European cities: A case study analysis on the use and effectiveness of the applied policy instruments," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    10. Daniela Smiraglia & Alice Cavalli & Chiara Giuliani & Francesca Assennato, 2023. "The Increasing Coastal Urbanization in the Mediterranean Environment: The State of the Art in Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Guorui Gao & Futao Wang & Zhenqing Wang & Qing Zhao & Litao Wang & Jinfeng Zhu & Wenliang Liu & Gang Qin & Yanfang Hou, 2024. "Multi-Scale Earthquake Damaged Building Feature Set," Data, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, June.
    12. Hee Won Jee & Seung Beom Seo & Young-Ho Seo & Junehyeong Park, 2025. "Effects of flood mitigation policies under climate change scenarios based on the cost-benefit perspective in the mountainous Korean basin," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 121(15), pages 18033-18056, August.
    13. Rita Nicolau & Beatriz Condessa, 2022. "Monitoring Net Land Take: Is Mainland Portugal on Track to Meet the 2050 Target?," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-31, July.
    14. Jody M. Webster & Yusuke Yokoyama & Marc Humblet & Juan Carlos Braga & Tezer Esat & Stewart Fallon & Edouard Bard, 2025. "Constraints on sea-level rise during meltwater pulse 1B from the Great Barrier Reef," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-7, December.
    15. Laura Turconi & Barbara Bono & Rebecca Genta & Fabio Luino, 2024. "The Effects of Flood Damage on Urban Road Networks in Italy: The Critical Function of Underpasses," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-30, September.
    16. Giacomo Bernello & Elena Mondino & Lucia Bortolini, 2022. "People’s Perception of Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation: The Case of Veneto Region (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-13, April.
    17. Daniel P. Lowry & Holly K. Han & Nicholas R. Golledge & Natalya Gomez & Katelyn M. Johnson & Robert M. McKay, 2024. "Ocean cavity regime shift reversed West Antarctic grounding line retreat in the late Holocene," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Giulia Cecili & Paolo De Fioravante & Luca Congedo & Marco Marchetti & Michele Munafò, 2022. "Land Consumption Mapping with Convolutional Neural Network: Case Study in Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, October.
    19. Alessia D’Agata & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Margherita Carlucci & Luca Salvati, 2023. "Mixed Land Use as an Intrinsic Feature of Sprawl: A Short-Term Analysis of Settlement Growth and Population Distribution Using European Urban Atlas," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-21, April.
    20. Spyridon Mavroulis & Andromachi Sarantopoulou & Efthymios Lekkas, 2025. "Earthquake-Triggered Landslides in Greece from Antiquity to the Present: Temporal, Spatial and Statistical GIS-Based Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-55, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6608-:d:1705529. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.