UNESCO – World Heritage Sites in Italy

United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization ~ Italy
What is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?  Many travelers know the phrase, but what is behind the designation? The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meets each year to designate, or even to remove, sites around the world. In order for a site to be put on the infamous “List”, it must be a place that has a tremendous value to humanity. World Heritage Sites are nominated by their home country, and go through a process at the yearly UNESCO Committee session. The current committee is represented by Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Iraq, Jordan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Arab Emerates.

Who Qualifies?

Every few years, new nations join, and many leave – it is a cyclical process to maintain fairness in the selections. In order for a nomination to become an official site, the 21 member panel takes it through a series of rigorous standards, ten in total, to determine it’s eligibility. The site does not need to meet all 10 requirements, but must meet a majority of them very significantly.

As of 2011, Italy, with its 47 sites, has the highest number of World Heritage Sites.

1. 1979 ~  Rock Drawings in Valcamonica

2.  1980 ~ Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan with “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci

3.  1980, 1990 ~ Historic Center of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City enjoying extraterritorial rights, and Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls; transboundary property, shared with the Holy See —

4.  1982 ~ Historic Center of Florence

5.  1987, 2007 ~ Piazza del Duomo, Pisa

6.  1987 ~ Venice and its lagoon

7.  1990 ~ Historic Center of San Gimignano

8.  1993 ~ The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

9.  1994,1996 ~ City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto

10. 1995 ~ Crespi d’Adda

11.  1995, 1999 ~ Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta

12.  1995 ~ Historic Center of Naples

13.  1995 ~ Historic Center of Siena

14.  1994 ~ Castel del Monte, Andria (Bari)

15.  1996 ~ Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna

16.  1996 ~ Historic Center of the City of Pienza

17.  1996 ~ The Trulli of Alberobello

18.  1997 ~ 18th century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and the San Leucio Complex

19.  1997 ~ Archaeological Area of Agrigento, Sicily

20.  1997 ~ Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata

21.  1997 ~ Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico di Padova), Padua

22.  1997 ~ Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena

23.  1997 ~ Amalfi Coast

24.  1997 ~Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and their Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)

25.  1997 ~ Residences of the Royal House of Savoy (Turin and its province)

26.  1997 ~ Su Nuraxi di Barumini, Sardinia

27.  1997 ~ Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily

28. 1998 ~ Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

29.  1998 ~ Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archæological sites of Pæstum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula

30.  1998 ~ Historic Center of Urbino

31.  1999 ~ Villa Adriana (Tivoli)

32.  Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi and other Franciscan Sites

33.  2000 ~ City of Verona

34.  2000 ~ Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands), Sicily

35.  2001 ~ Villa d’Este, Tivoli

36.  Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto; eight towns in South-Eastern Sicily: Caltagirone,

37.  2002 ~  Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli

38. 2003 ~ Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy

39.  2004 ~Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia

40.  2004 ~ Val d’Orcia

41.  2005 ~ Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica, Sicily

42.  2006 ~ Genoa, Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli

43.  2008 ~ Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, shared with Switzerland

44.  2008 ~ Mantua and Sabbioneta

45.  2009 ~ The Dolomites

46.  2010 ~ Monte San Giorgio, shared with Switzerland

47.  2011 ~ Longobards in Italy. Places of the power (568-774 A.D.) — 2011