Features of the Italian Large Dams and their upstream catchments

Abstract. In Italy, a complete and updated database including the most relevant structural information regarding reservoirs and the characteristics of their upstream watersheds is currently missing. This paper tackles this gap by presenting the first comprehensive dataset of 528 Large Dams in Italy. Alongside structural details of the dams, such as coordinates, reservoir surface area and volume, the dataset also encompasses a range of geomorphological, climatological, extreme rainfall, land cover and soil-related attributes of their upstream catchments. The data used to create this dataset are partially sourced from the General Department of Dams and Hydro-Electrical Infrastructures, as well as from the processing of updated and standardized grid data. This dataset (Evangelista et al., 2024a. Available at: https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.12818297), which contains information not easily available in other similar global or national data collections, is expected to be of great help for a broad spectrum of hydrological applications, ranging from modelling to water resource management.