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Abstract Desertification, as it has been defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), represents the whole phenomena of land degradation, resulting from many causes. Southern European countries are considered as areas of new expansion of desertification, caused by inadequate agricultural practices, overgrazing, and deforestation, which increase anthrophic pressure. During the last few years, in the context of several international research projects, methodologies were proposed, based on various parameters. These are grouped in uniform classes and weighted by the attribution of scores in order to assess the so-called "quality indexes". By computation of the previous indexes, "desertification indicators" are defined. This work reviews the most-used methodologies and presents an application of the methodology proposed in the European MEDALUS project to an area of the Calabrian territory (southern Italy), relative to the physical aspects.