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The study site is the Lido di Dante-Lido di Classe area, an 8 km stretch of sandy beaches along the Emilia-Romagna coastline in northern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The site is a mixture of urbanised (approximately 40\% of the total area) and relatively pristine (approximately 60\%) coastal environments. The seaside towns of Lido di Dante and Lido di Classe are located at the site's northern and southern boundaries respectively. In these regions the beaches are protected by offshore breakwaters and groins and backed by moderate coastal development in the form of beach huts, holiday accommodation and paved roads. Between these two towns is a natural park consisting of natural vegetated dunes and no coastal protection. Three river mouths are located at the site: one at Lido di Dante (Fiumi Uniti); one at Lido di Classe (Fiume Savio); and one in the centre of the natural park (Torrente Bevano).
The submerged beach is generally composed of fine sand, while the beachface is made up of fine to medium sands (D50 = 0.03 mm). The intertidal beach slope varies significantly along the 8 km's of coastline, from mild (2.5\%) to steep (14\%). Steep values are representative of areas adjacent to coastal defence structures (i.e. groins) while the area inside the natural park is characterised by lower gradients. The mean submerged beach slope is 3\%. According to the morphodynamic classification of Wright and Short (1984), the beaches are considered as having intermediate beach states. Low tide terraces are often observed both in the protected and natural areas. Submerged longshore bars meanwhile are only present in the areas outside of the offshore structures.
The wave climate of this region is generally small, with 91\% of significant wave heights below 1.25 m. The prevalent wave direction is from the east, while the most intense storms are from the ENE (known as the "Bora wind"). The Bora wind is a strong, cold, gusty wind that blows intermittently but mainly during the winter months. It not only has a strong influence on the wave climate of this region, but of the general circulation patterns of the entire Adriatic Sea. South-easterly waves meanwhile are much less significant, since SE winds are sheltered to some degree by the Conero Headland approximately 120 km south of the site. 
In regards to water level variations, the area is microtidal with a mean neap tidal range of 30-40 cm and a mean spring tidal range of 80-90 cm. The tidal signal has both diurnal and semidiurnal components. Tidal anomalies of up to double the maximum tidal elevation can occur as a result of surge. This is particularly the case during SE wind conditions, where, considering the SE-NE orientation of the Adriatic Sea, there is the greatest fetch for wind-driven surge.
Within the 2008-2010 MICORE monitoring period, three storms were selected for calibration of the off-the-shelf and XBeach models. Each storm has distinct properties that encompass the range of storm conditions typical for the Emilia-Romagna region. Here the modelling is restricted to profile MN15 for the 1-3 December 2008 storm.

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At this stage XBeach substantially overestimates erosion (see \autoref{fig:MICORE_Lido_di_Dante_mar2010_MN17_profiles}). Whereas measurements indicate only moderate frontal dune erosion (excluding MS17 for the 1-3 December 2008 storm), the dune erosion in the simulations is more severe.

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${tools.image('MICORE_Lido_di_Dante/mar2010/MN17', 'profiles.eps')}