Geoheritage in Europe and its conservation. Italy.

In recent years (1994-2004), an enhanced sensitivity of Italian public opinion toward natural environment has allowed a better perception of physical landscape as a whole, not only limited to its biological aspects (flora, fauna, etc.), but including its main geological characters (geosites).These new demands and expectations, however, have not been fulfilled by any obligation from the government, not capable so far of issuing any kind of rule, good for the entire country, which could produce a systematic inventory of the sites of geological interest. The beginning of geoconservation in Italy was many years ago with some precursors (Praturlon, 1986; Regione Lombardia, 1982; Panizza and Piacente, 1989), but organized activities were only begun at the start of the 1990s. After the creation of ProGEO’s Italian working group, and as a consequence of the II International Symposium of the Association in Rome in 1996, activities became stronger and well organized. Clearly, we are still far from organized activity at the public level, but, nevertheless, some important targets have been reached and now the concept of geoconservation is commonly accepted in all parts of Italy. New associations have also been constituted (Geotourism association and Geomorphosites group are the most important, because they derive from the academic world). Some national programmes have also started, financed by the Ministry for Scientific Research and the National Geological Service. A more recent initiative is the creation of the “Geosites Documentation Centre”, located at the Genova University – POLIS Dept. at Architectural Faculty - which has been already formally recognized by ProGEO and by SIGEA (Italian Society for Environmental Geology). In the future, ProGEO activity will be focused on the promotion of geosites approach in those regions which are not involved in inventory activity, as well as on educational programme