Spring frosts are often responsible of alarming economic losses and serious injuries to fruit trees in northern Italy, that is the country's leading area of high-value horticultural production. The objectives of this study are: improving the forecast by developing forecast techniques based on micrometeorology and local topography; chracterising the landscape in relation to spring frost susceptibility; defining the most suitable methods of protection in relation to the climatic hazard and to sustainable practices; evaluating economical and social aspects of protection techniques; extending the knowledge to the farmers.