ABSTRACT

The great variety of lithological, stratigraphical and structural features (particularly in mountain areas), as well as volcanoes and sub–volcanic phenomena, attracted many travelling scientists to the Italian peninsula since the 17th century. The description of the Earth's strata became an important issue of the naturalistic research after the works by Niels Steensen (Steno). From the end of the 17th century until the end of the 18th century lithostratigraphical research developed in Italy within the studies and fieldwork of remarkable scientists, such as Antonio Vallisneri, Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Giovanni Arduino and others. The emergence of stratigraphy, as a significant part of the new science of geology, was later supported by the work of several Italian scientists and geological institutions from the 19th to the 20th century.