The world looks to Italy above all for culture and tourism, as well as for the brilliant achievements of “made in Italy”. The rich cultural history of Italy has also led to the world record of sites recognized by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. The long list of the ...

UN agency opens with Rock Drawings in Valcamonica (Lombardy) which gained recognition in 1979, and now ends with The Porticoes of Bologna (Emilia-Romagna), which entered the Unesco list in 2021.
The adoption of the World Heritage Convention dates back to 16 November 1972 of World Heritage List, adopted by the Unesco General Conference. Precise selection criteria have been defined and a Committee for the Heritage List has been set up which deals exclusively with the most precious legacy left to us by the generations that preceded us and which we have the duty to pass on to our children.
There are ten selection criteria for inclusion on the World Heritage List: to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design; to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared; to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history; to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance (the Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria); to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features; to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

Italy has the largest number of World Heritage Sites, with 58 recognitions. Altogether countries that have sites recognized as world heritage by Unesco are 168 and Italy has an envied supremacy. (Anna Ferrero) 

List of World Heritage sites in Italy

1979 - Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, Lombardy

1980 - Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Lazio, shared with Vatican

1980 - Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Lombardy

1982 - Historic Centre of Florence, Tuscany

1987 - Venice and its Lagoon, Veneto

1987 - Pisa, Piazza del Duomo, Tuscany

1990 - Historic Centre of San Gimignano, Tuscany

1993 - The Sassis and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, Basilicata

1994 - City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, Veneto

1995 - Historic Centre of Siena, Tuscany

1995 - Historic Centre of Naples, Campania

1995 - The workers’ village of Crespi d’Adda, Lombardy

1995 - Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta, Emilia Romagna

1996 - Castel del Monte, Apulia

1996 - The Trulli of Alberobello, Apulia

1996 - Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna, Emilia Romagna

1996 - Historic Centre of the City of Pienza, Tuscany

1997 - Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and the San Leucio Complex, Campania

1997 - Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, Piedmont

1997 - Botanical Garden of Padua, Veneto

1997 - Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto), Liguria

1997 - Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande of Modena, Emilia Romagna

1997 - Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, Campania

1997 - Costiera Amalfitana, Campania

1997 - Archaeological Area of Agrigento, Sicily

1997 - Villa romana del Casale of Piazza Armerina, Sicily

1997 - Su Nuraxi di Barumini, Sardinia

1998 - Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula, Campania

1998 - Historic Centre of Urbino, Marche

1998 - Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia, Friuli Venezia Giulia

1999 - Tivoli, Villa Adriana, Lazio

2000 - Aeolian Islands, Sicily

2000 - Assisi, the Basilica di San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites, Umbria

2000 - City of Verona, Veneto

2001 - Tivoli, Villa d'Este, Lazio

2002 - Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, Sicily

2003 - Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy

2003 - Monte San Giorgio, Lombardy, shared with Switzerland

2004 - Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, Lazio

2004 - Val d'Orcia, Tuscany

2005 - Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica, Sicily

2006 - Genoa, Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli, Liguria

2008 - Mantua and Sabbioneta, Lombardy

2008 - Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, Lombardy, shared with Switzerland

2009 - The Dolomites, Trentino, Friuli and Veneto

2010 - Monte San Giorgio, Lombardy, shared with Switzerland

2011 - Longobards in Italy. Places of the power (568-774 A.D.), Various

2011 - Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps, Shared with Austria, France, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland

2013 - Mount Etna, Sicily

2013 - Ville e Giardini Medicei, Tuscany

2014 - Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, Piedmont

2015 - Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale, Sicily

2017 - Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, Shared with Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia and Spain

2017 - Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – western Stato da Mar, Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli, also Criatia and Montenegro

2018 - Ivrea, Industrial City of the 20th century, Piedmont

2019 - The hills of Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene, Veneto

2021 - Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles, Veneto

2021 - The Great Spa Towns of Europe, comprising 11 famous historic spa towns and cities in seven countries: Italy (Montecapini Terme, Tuscany), Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany and the United Kingdom

2021 - The Porticoes of Bologna. Emilia-Romagna