Abstract Carrara Marble, from Italy, probably one of the most famous dimension stones in the collective memory and in ordinary people, is here nominated as a suitable ‘Global Heritage Stone Resource’. Quarried since pre-Roman times, the Carrara marble is the testimonial of an area/industry that was able – for a variety of reasons not easily repeatable in future stone history – from the dawn of the stone sector, to trigger a flywheel effect on a global scale. Suitable for any environment and cultural context, this versatile marble has been appreciated in almost any field of application – from building to architecture, from fine arts to urban landscape, from funerary art to modern 3D design – probably reaching its highest point in the eternal works of famous sculpturers, artists and architects such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Jacopo Della Quercia, Canova, Bernini, and many others. It is currently excavated in more than 100 quarries, processed almost everywhere and sold all over the world.

Abstract This research was stimulated by the need to extend in time the record of Italy's largest earthquakes, which commonly have repeat times of the same order as the length of the available historical record. As a test case we used the 1908 Straits of Messina earthquake, a large event that geologists assume to recur at intervals of roughly a millennium but whose predecessors are as yet unknown. The 1908 earthquake caused enormous territorial upheaval and left signs in the settlements that are still largely recognizable today. We hypothesized that the Straits of Messina, which were densely populated even in ancient times, may similarly retain evidence of one or more much older ‘upheavals’ of the settlement network, and that this evidence may be recognized through a careful analysis of archaeological observations. We found evidence that the settled area around the Straits of Messina contracted substantially around the middle of the fourth century AD, when many sites were abandoned or relocated. This contraction can hardly be justified by the then current economic and military setting. Specific archaeological findings within the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria also suggest a serious decline of the region during the same period. The archaeological hypothesis is in good agreement with the available historical and palaeoseismological evidence and suggests that a large earthquake, perhaps similar to the 1908 event, took place in the area surrounding the Straits of Messina around the middle of the fourth century AD .

Abstract Small-size karst landforms may potentially provide very useful information to fully understand the behaviour of karst systems and their dynamics. In this chapter we demonstrate the need to pay attention to such features. ‘Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo’, located in a remarkable karst area of southern Italy, has in recent years become the most controversial and discussed speleological site in Apulia. Even though it has been known for several decades, recently excavation work has allowed cavers to enter a huge karst system, eventually reaching the water table. The total depth of the cave is now 324 m, making it the deepest in the region. This chapter summarizes the history of discoveries at the site, starting from the description of the polje, also including information about the link between toponymy and karst. The works carried out at the swallet site are then described to emphasize the importance of the often neglected small-size karst features. In fact, when carefully observed and studied, these might be able to shed new light and greatly increase our knowledge about karst. The final part of the chapter deals with the cave system and provides an outline of the ongoing research.

Abstract The Italian Geological Survey (APAT) carried out field surveys and analysis of collapse phenomena (sinkholes) in Italy. The main goal of the project is to collect geological, geomorphological, geochemical and hydrogeological data about the sinkhole-prone areas in Italy in order to develop a spatial database of the characteristics of each phenomenon. The preliminary results of this study provide information on the distribution, geological setting, and monitoring and remediation actions associated with these natural collapses in Italy. Many Italian regions are affected by these natural disasters. Some of them are caused by karst collapses or anthropic activity. However, some occur in areas characterized by buried carbonate bedrock (up to 190 m), as well as by peculiar geological–structural and geochemical scenarios. In these areas it is not reasonable to ascribe the formation mechanism to karst activity. Instead, these types of cavities quickly develop in terrains with a variable granulometry, often in connection with upwelling fluids. In this work some natural specific cases have been studied in order to define the relationships between the geology (regional tectonic elements, mineral spring waters and strong gas vents) and the genesis of the sinkholes. A first attempt of sinkhole classification is also presented.

Abstract The Colli Albani volcano has been active since c . 600 ka and is presently quiescent. Rock stratigraphy indicates that the activity of the volcano has undergone major changes in terms of eruption style, average eruption rate and location of active vents. The chemistry of the Colli Albani products is remarkably mafic, K-rich and silica undersaturated. Nevertheless, the volcano has experienced all types of eruption styles, from plinian explosive paroxysms, to milder strombolian and hawaiian eruptions, to effusive, including large- and small-scale phreatomagmatism. The first period of activity of the volcano is termed the ‘Vulcano Laziale’ period, and lasted from c . 600 ka to c . 355 ka. During this period, the volcanism was predominantly explosive, with an average eruption rate of 1 km 3 ka −1 . At least seven intermediate- to large-volume ignimbrites (VEI 5–7) were erupted and emplaced over an area larger than 1600 km 2 , forming an extensive ignimbrite shield around the central, continuously forming c . 8 × 8 km 2 caldera. The caldera complex and the ignimbrite shield are named the ‘Vulcano Laziale edifice’. The Vulcano Laziale edifice can in turn be subdivided into a lower ‘Pisolitic Tuffs succession’ ( c . 600–500 ka), in which ignimbrites are dominated by large-scale phreatomagmatism associated with the likely presence of an early caldera lake, and an overlying ‘Pozzolane Tuffs succession’, in which ignimbrites show a dominantly magmatic fragmentation style, probably in response to progressive exhaustion of the caldera lake. The typical succession of these mafic ignimbrites is composed of a sub-plinain to plinian basal scoria fall deposit covered by the main dark scoria and ash tabular ignimbrite sheet found as far as >30 km from the caldera rim and across ridges several hundreds metres in elevation, and is characterized by co-ignimbrite breccias at proximal locations. Major ignimbrites erupted with an average interval of c . 40 ka. After each paroxysmal ignimbrite eruption, volcanic activity was predominantly effusive to mild explosive, and was concentrated along peri-caldera fissure systems, forming continuous scoria cone and lava ridges, together with more explosive eruptions from intracaldera vents. The last major caldera-forming eruption of the Vulcano Laziale period occurred at c . 355 ka, emplacing the ignimbrites of the Villa Senni formation. Following this eruption, the complex Tuscolano-Artemisio peri- and extracaldera fissure system, predominantly composed of scoria cones and lavas, formed in response to the deflation of the caldera and peri-caldera area, together with formation of the intracaldera Faete stratovolcano. These edifices were emplaced between c . 355 and c . 180 ka, an interval termed the ‘Tuscolano–Artemisio–Faete period’. Although similar peri-caldera and intracaldera activity occurred earlier, that is, after each major caldera-forming eruption during the Vulcano Laziale period, the Tuscolano–Artemisio–Faete period was subject to a significant reduction in average eruption rate, by one order of magnitude, of 0.1 km 3 ka −1 , which can be related to a consistent reduction in the deep recharging of the plumbing system, and suggesting why no further ignimbrite eruptions occurred after 355 ka. Peri-caldera activity began along the northern and eastern peri-caldera ring fractures (Tuscolano and Artemisio sections, respectively) and after c . 300 ka progressively migrated outwards to extracaldera positions (Pantano Borghese section) and to the western peri-caldera fractures (S. Maria delle Mole section). The activity of these latter fracture systems ended almost simultaneosly, together with that of the Faete intracaldera stratovolcano, between c . 280 and c . 250 ka. After 250 ka, activity migrated to the south (Monte Due Torri section). The most recent activity along this latter peri-caldera area interfingers (between c . 200 ka and c . 180 ka) with phreatomagmatic products, which instead became dominant in the most recent activity of the Colli Albani volcano. Beginning from c . 200 ka (Via dei Laghi period), the western section of the peri-caldera area has been the site of repeated very small- to small-volume, maar-forming phreatomagmatic eruptions, which formed both monogenetic and polygenetic maars, collectively named the Via dei Laghi maar field. The most recent of these maars is the polygenetic Albano maar, which was formed after c . 70 ka by at least seven eruptions migrating along a NW–SE-trending, 3.5-km-long fracture. The last eruption of the maar occurred at <23 ka. Subsequent phreatic activity occurred throughout the Holocene, with lahars originating from dramatic withdrawals of the deep maar lake, at least up to the Eneolithic time (6000–5000 years ago) and probably up to Roman times (fourth century BCE), when the Romans dug a tunnel drain to keep the lake at a constant low level. The Albano area is currently the site of volcanic gas emissions, ground uplift and periodic seismic swarms, which may indicate persistent activity of a magmatic body at depth.