The main problems concerning Italian agriculture are the abandonment of cultivated land and the water shortage threat due to a higher water demand and a less volume inflow that diminish the availability of irrigation water. This critical situation and the peculiar flooding and landslide vulnerability of the Italian land underline an urgent need to implement innovative policies in which rural women could play the main role. A lack of understanding and appreciation of women's efforts as well as a disregard for their priorities as resources users can lead to the failure of the development process. The local government appears to be the most appropriate level for the action planning to curb the hazard risk and delegate rural women to carry out non-structural works, for which to provide corresponding incentives, and to organize appropriate training and adopt extension measures to reduce land vulnerability.