From Waterpower to Fragility: Analysis of Historic Watermills in the Aterno Valley for Risk Assessment and Sustainable Development

The interaction between humans and water has historically shaped landscapes, in which rivers played a central role in the development of territories. Among the infrastructures developed to manage water resources, watermills had always represented a key element of minor cultural heritage, reflecting centuries of adaptation to environmental, economic, and technological conditions. Although once central to river landscapes, these structures are now largely forgotten and at risk of being lost, particularly in Italy’s inner areas affected by rural depopulation, climate change, and natural hazards. The case analyzed in this paper, part of a larger research project, focuses on the analysis of watermills in the Aterno River valley in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. This fragile mountainous area is currently threatened by natural hazards and depopulation. The aim is to fill the gap in documentation on this “minor heritage,” which has been identified and cataloged, along a timeline of its vulnerabilities, starting from historical cartography, integrated with a localized field survey within a geographic information system. The GIS facilitates the cross-referencing of historical, geospatial, and environmental data, including hydrogeological and flood risk information. The results demonstrate how water, once a resource, has become a vulnerability factor and highlights the fragility of these historic artifacts, contextualized within the surrounding landscape.