Geo-hiking map of Mt. Penna and Mt. Aiona area (Aveto Natural Park, Italy)

This work presents a geo-hiking map of Mt. Penna and Mt. Aiona area (Aveto Natural Park, Italy), an original and useful tool in the Earth science mapping field. Aveto Park is one of the best known Italian protected areas; it is located in the Ligurian Apennines and belongs to the Ophiolitic Protected Areas Coordination (‘C.A.P.O.’) and to the European Ecological Network Nature 2000. The Park area is crossed by more than 500 km of paths and trails where hikers, climbers and mountain lovers walk every year. The geo-hiking map was compiled by combining available geological and geomorphological bibliographic data with a field survey and basic information derived from hiking and tourist maps. The main stages used for production of the map are as follows: (a) bibliographic and map research of scientific papers; (b) a geological and geomorphological field survey; (c) trail and route data from tourist park maps; (d) research of geotouristic elements of interest. This work shows an example of geocartography research that really contributes to the implementations of documents and maps useful in the hiking tourism field. The main map is complemented with a natural hazard map; increasing tourism during the whole year in areas with geomorphological hazards results in a relationship between the human element, natural processes and hazard phenomena.