INTRODUCTION TO QUATERNARY STUDIES IN ITALY: FROM ARDUINO TO THE FIRST HALF OF THE PAST CENTURY

A summary of the origin and development of Quaternary studies in Italy since the 18th to mid 20th century is presented,focussing on marine sediment stratigraphy, continental glacial deposits, vertebrate palaeontology, palaeobotany, and palaeoanthropology.The history of the Quaternary sciences in Italy is also figured in a timeline of main milestones. The presence in ItalianQuaternary deposits of cold-water Atlantic immigrants, which currently inhabit boreal seas, was identified by Brocchi in 1814.Following the 18th International Geological Congress (IGC) (1948), there was a surge in interest in these species, resulting in theidentification of numerous boreal species (foraminifera, ostracods, bivalves, and gastropods). Even in the second half of the twentiethcentury, considerable attention was paid to these "northern guests", their systematics, and taxonomic and biostratigraphicrevisions, which contributed to defining the species that potentially have a chronological distribution and palaeoecological significanceuseful for defining Pleistocene marine geochronological stages.The marine sediments, well exposed in Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia, had an important role in the development of Quaternarystratigraphy since Lyell in 1833 introduced the "Newer Pliocene", later renamed Pleistocene. Several marine stages were definedin Italy, Sicilian by Doderlein in 1872, Calabrian by Gignoux in 1910, Tyrrhenian by Issel in 1914, Milazzian by Deperet in 1918and other later on. A scientific debate on the Plio-Pleistocene boundary began at the 18th International Geological Congress (IGC)in London (1948) when it was established that it should be placed "at the horizon of the first indication of climatic deterioration inthe Italian Neogene succession" on the base of changes in marine faunas.The continental deposits, today attributed to the Quaternary, were described and mapped as 'alluvial' and 'diluvial terrains' untilthe eighteen seventies. Glacigenic deposits were identified and described in Italy at the foot of the Western Alps by Martins andGastaldi in 1850 and, in the following decade, at the foot of the Central and Eastern Alps by De Mortillet, Omboni and others. Inthe last decades of the 19th century, Taramelli, Sacco, and Cozzaglio, began to distinguish the evidence for more than one glaciation.Since the publication of Penck & Brückner's volumes in 1909, the four-glaciation scheme was generally adopted. The pastpresence of glaciers on the Apuan Alps and the Apennines was first recognised in the latest 19th century. Subsequently, over ahundred Pleistocene glaciers had been identified and attributed to the Würm glaciation.The palaeobotanical character of the Quaternary was first recognised by Reboul in 1833, as "characterized by animal and plantspecies similar to modern living ones at the same site". Latterly, Brongniart, Sternberg and Balsamo-Crivelli first classified plantmacrofossils species, provided timelines and compared finds to the modern extant forms according to the Linnean system. By theend of the 19th century, it became clear that the assemblage of extinct and eradicated plant species in northern Italy graduallydecreased through the Pliocene, the Quaternary interglacial and the postglacial periods (Sordelli). The excavating peats at theonset of the 20th century suggested that the macrofossil record could be organised on a robust stratigraphical basis. In 1931-1932,the introduction of palynology in Italy marked the initial development of microbotanical stratigraphy and its application to vegetation,climate history and interactions with prehistoric civilisations.Since the Renaissance, the remains of Quaternary terrestrial mammals have attracted the attention of collectors and scholarswhen the collection of fossils from the Upper Valdarno was stimulated by Ferdinando I de' Medici and Andrea Cesalpino reportingthe finding of elephant bones at San Giovanni Valdarno. By the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, several newspecies were identified from the mammalian remains primarily found in the Tuscany basins. Various geologists and naturalistscontributed to the knowledge of the Pleistocene deposits and their mammal fossil record in northern, central (e.g. in the RomanBasin), and southern Italy, as well as in Sicily and Sardinia, from where a number of new endemic species were discovered. In1865 Pareto proposed the Villafranchian Stage for the sequence of fluvial and lacustrine sediments of Villafranca d'Asti(Piedmont). The comparison of the mammalian fauna of Villafranca with that of other Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene faunal assemblagesfrom Italy, led successively to the definition of the 'Villafranchian European Land Mammal Age'.Lastly, a brief outline of the beginnings of palaeoanthropological research and the noteworthy Palaeolithic human remains discoveredin Italy until the first half of the 20th century is given.