Evolution of a coastal sistem protected by submerged natural structures: the shoreline of Erice (Western Sicily)

The shoreline of Erice located in the western part of Sicily, just north of Trapani, represents, from an administrative point of view, an Erice enclave in the territory of Trapani. At the end of the 1960s this section of coast underwent a remarkable shoreline withdrawal due to human intervention along the beach, in particular after the building of the S.P. 77 road that implied the elimination of the humid areas and the sand dunes once on-site. This paper deals with the analysis of the morphodynamic behaviour of the shoreline taken into consideration according to the results of the studies concerning meteo-marine climate, solid transport and a qualitative analysis of the shoreline evolution from 1840 up to now.