Abstract
In the last fifty years, the landscape of Southern Italy has been intensely modified by human activities. A series of analyses have been carried out by using three orthophotos whose acquisition time spans range from 1953 to 2002. The change detection analysis indicates two main phases of changes. The first main change from 1953 to 1973 concerns mainly woodland and wild vegetation while the second one is driven by agricultural practices. The analysis also allows for the detection of some paleao structures known as "lama" that partly coincide with the hydrographic features and present a considerable transformation from that of their original wild vegetation by being transformed into agricultural fields. The loss of wild vegetation in the lama channel beds and the occurrence of severe floods in this area during the last decade have led to the speculation that intensive agricultural practices have increased the frequency and magnitude of flooding. Based on the availability of more than 50 years of aerial photography, the site is suitable for an investigation about the interaction between historical land use change and watershed storm flow response.