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UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy

Italy holds the record for the most UNESCO heritage sites in the world.

There are currently 55 UNESCO sites in Italy — 50 cultural and 5 natural — and many others are under consideration.

UNESCO’s heritage lists provide context to a country’s history and traditions. Many travelers, including myself, use UNESCO’s lists as a guide to deciding where to go, what to see, or what to read (or write) about.

Following is a list of Italy’s UNESCO sites. Links to coverage of these sites on Italofile are provided where applicable and will be continuously updated.

Prosecco Hills of Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage site
Farra di Soligo, located in Italy’s Prosecco HIlls, is the most recent addition to Italy’s UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Photo via Consorzio Tutela del Vino Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG

UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites in Italy (A to Z)

UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites in Italy (By Region)

Basilicata

Campania

Emilia-Romagna

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

  • Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia
  • Cividale del Friuli (Longobard Site)
  • The Dolomites (Shared with Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige)

Lazio

Liguria

  • Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli
  • Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)

Lombardy

Marche

Piemonte

  • Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century
  • Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps (Shared with Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige)
  • Residences of the Royal House of Savoy
  • Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato

Puglia

  • Castel del Monte
  • Sanctuary of San Michele (Longobard Site)
  • The Trulli of Alberobello

Sardinia

  • Su Nuraxi di Barumini

Sicily

Trentino-Alto Adige

  • The Dolomites (Shared with Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
  • Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps (Shared with Lombardy, Piemonte)

Tuscany

Umbria

  • Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites
  • Basilica San Salvatore, Spoleto (Longobard Site)
  • Clitunno Tempietto, Campello sul Clitunno (Longobard Site)

Veneto

  • Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico), Padua (Veneto)
  • City of Verona (Veneto)
  • City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto
  • The Dolomites (Shared with Trentino Alto-Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
  • Prosecco Hills of Conegliano e Valdobbiadene (Veneto)
  • Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar
  • Venice and its Lagoon

UNESCO Natural Heritage Sites

  • Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe
  • Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands) (Sicily)
  • Monte San Giorgio (Lombardy, shared with Switzerland)
  • Mount Etna (Sicily)
  • The Dolomites (Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

Italy’s Intangible Cultural Heritage

In addition to sites one can visit, Italy is also recognized by its intangible cultural heritage. These include the following:

  • Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian puppet theatre
  • Canto a tenore, Sardinian pastoral songs
  • Traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona (Lombardy)
  • Mediterranean diet (shared with other countries)
  • Celebrations of big shoulder-borne processional structures (Example from Molise)
  • Traditional agricultural practice of cultivating the “vite ad alberello” (head-trained bush vines) of the community of Pantelleria (Sicily)
  • Falconry, a living human heritage (shared with other countries)
  • Art of Neapolitan “Pizzaiuolo”
  • Art of dry stone walling, knowledge and techniques (shared with other countries)

Source: Italy’s UNESCO sites