Il Quaternario Italian Journal of Quaternary Sciences 18(1), 2005 - Volume Speciale, 39-61 THE GEOMORPHOSITES IN LOMBARDY Luisa Pellegrini, Paolo Boni, Pierluigi Vercesi, Alberto Carton, Lamberto Laureti & Francesco Zucca with contribution of Stefania De Vita Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia – e-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT: L. Pellegrini et al., The Geomorphosites in Lombardy. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2005). Lombardy is a region of Northern Italy with a territory whose structure includes, from the physical-geographical point of view, a very important portion of the Alps and the adjacent Po plain with a little part of the Northern Apennines. This situation is due to the complexity of the landscape with its great diversity of historical and human aspects, frequently studied and described, but also the same physical elements which are, owing to their interest, worthy of conservation as part of the cultural heritage. As in many other Italian regions and provinces, also in Lombardy the exigence of describing and making available sites and peculiari- ties of the landscape arose, together with the suggestion of specific naturalistic tours, by means of relative guidebooks, monographs and so on. The Authors of the present work (as a part of the national research programme on ‘Geosites and Italian Landscape’) made a census of geomorphosites in Lombardy in order to their improvement, conservation and availability, both on the tourist and the scientific level. From the operating point of view, because of the high heterogeneity of the Lombard physical landscapes, it has been necessary to dif- ferentiate three main areas: Alps, Po plain and Apennines.