Design and management aspects of a coastal protection system. A case history in the South of Italy

A case history concerning the design and management aspects of a coastal protection system built by the Italian National Railway Authority (NRA) during the 80’s is reported. The intervention was built in order to protect the main national railway line to Sicily from the severe damages induced by the wave action. In particular, the impact of a breakwater/groin system, based on a T-shaped structure, along the Tyrrhenian coast from Paola to San Lucido, in the South of Italy, has been considered. In 2005, the local Administration (San Lucido Municipality) promoted a lawsuit against the NRA. The local Administration denounced the negative effect of the intervention arguing that the presence of the defense structures caused an accretion of sediments in the protected area and interrupted the long-shore sediment transport, determining a relevant downdrift beach erosion. The case of a lawsuit evoking a loss of beach induced by maritime works represents the first case in Italy. The Court decision stated that the shore protection structures built along the coast between Paola and San Lucido represent an obstacle to the long-shore sediment transport in the north-south direction. The sentence obliged the NRA to pay a sum of money per year in favour of the San Lucido Municipality to be invested for the construction of new coastal protection structures. The present paper describes the local wave climate, the intervention, its monitored effects on morphodynamics, and the technical discussion which was held in front of the Court in 2006