La voce del mare: evoluzione geomorfologica recente del litorale adriatico leccese

In April 1913 Cosimo De Giorgi leaded a field trip with students of Istituto Tecnico O.G. Costa of Lecce at the San Cataldo beach, a locality placed about 12 km far from Lecce, aiming to illustrate the main features of the local coastal landscape. De Giorgi focused on the blackish sands which mark the Adriatic beaches and that he correctly attributed to the solid load of Ofanto River which is rich of volcanic minerals belonging to the Mount Vulture (PZ). Recent research points out that Ofanto River fed the Adriatic beaches of Lecce province from the end of XVIII century up to 1960. During this phase high dune belts developed along with coastal ponds and swamps; the spreading of malaria disease most likely produced the depopulation of the coastal area. At present, the combination of relative sea level rise and of the drastic decrease of natural beach nourishment, due to the lowered solid load of Ofanto River because of anthropic causes, produces diffuse and intense coastal erosion.