Cultural Heritage and Natural Hazard: How WRF Model Can Help to Protect and Safe Archaeological Sites

Italy is an extraordinary outdoor museum thanks to its 51 UNESCO sites, more than 200.000 architectural monumental and archaeological assets, 3.400 museums and about 200.000 archaeological sites and areas. Although this country is considered a world leader in terms of humanity cultural heritage, it is particularly exposed to landslides, floods, earthquakes, subsidence, coastal erosion and volcanic eruptions. With the exception of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the remaining phenomena have often as trigger an extreme meteorological event, capable of producing large amounts of precipitation and consequently significant environmental damages. In this paper it will be shown how a spatial and temporal high-resolution meteorological model, optimized for Sicily, one of the richest regions in terms of cultural heritage, provides useful evaluation elements that can facilitate the management and safety of archaeological sites and cultural assets.