Dynamic Geomorphology and Historical Iconography. Contributions to the Knowledge of Environmental Changes and Slope Instabilities in the Apennines and the Alps

In the unique Italian cultural context, the use of historical documents, among which iconography, may represent a powerful tool to describe past natural events and thus add pieces of information to the hazard and risk puzzles. Besides written documents, drawings, paintings, sketches and views allow geologists to acquire a special multitemporal data set on some important landslide features: geometry (volumes, areas, thickness, runout), kinematics (type, state of activity, distribution of activity), impacts etc. Here, some examples of the representation of dynamic geomorphological processes in historical archives are presented and commented with reference to the Apennines and the Alps.