Periurban Hiking Trails Evaluation as Part of the Sustainable Tourism Infrastructure in Nemi (Italy)

Anotace: Hiking trails are one of the most important amenities that attract visitors into any area which has natural potential for tourism development. This paper assesses two periurban hiking trails in the town of Nemi, 30 km south of Rome in Italy. There are two popular hiking trails; Trail A loops around Nemi and Trail B leads from Nemi to Genzano. Herein we evaluated the trails’ attractiveness in detail. This commenced with monitoring the surface conditions and their degree of destruction, followed by the identification of risks (e.g. falling rocks, erosion) and scope of available amenities. The major 60.7% of Trail A is covered by stone pavement and this leads through a further 57.4% of steep slopes above 25°. Thus, although the trail is more vulnerable to water erosion, the vegetation growing on adjacent slopes greatly reduces the erosion. Trail B runs along the contour line and the major issue we faced here was the width of the trail. The width is less than 30 cm on 22.4 % of the trail and this presents safety problems from both surface stability and thethreat of falling rocks. The Decision Checklist for trail assessment and subsequent proposal of measures was then applied. This method provides information and help for land managers, agencies, protected area administrationand also private individuals. The method can also be applied to acquire detailed information on the condition of trails used for leisure activities and for proposale of further measures necessary to increase the tourism potential of subject areas.