Landslides and infrastructures:the case of the montaguto earth flow in southern italy

Abstract

The Montaguto earth flow is one of the most recent landslides involving infrastructure in Southern Italy. It has been periodically active during the last 70 years. This paper provides a description of the main phases in the earth flow activity and its effects on an important Italian national road and railroad tract. The most important earth flow reactivations occurred in 2006 and 2010, when the “SS-90” National Road and the “BeneventoFoggia” tract of the National Railroad, which both connect the east coast to the west coast, were destroyed by the landslide. A preliminary analysis of rainfall data showed that the most important earth flow reactivations occurred after at least two wet hydrological years.