ABSTRACT
Italy boasts of having hosted hundreds of native and foreign scholars, who, with a peak of activity in the nineteenth century, left a heritage of great value for future generations. The high diversity of lichens in Italy is mainly due to the presence of some biogeographic groups of species with different ecological requirements. The level of knowledge of biodiversity in Italy is very high, with more detail for the areas with higher biological richness, islands, and mountains. Biodiversity hotspots are areas of exceptionally high biodiversity and rates of endemism. According to Medail and Quezel, three areas of Italy fall within the 10 Mediterranean Basin hotspots. These are the Maritime and Ligurian Alps; Sardinia; and Sicily. Forests in Italy and in the rest of the Mediterranean have been heavily exploited by humans since the dawn of the agriculture. It is realistically to say that in this area there are not anymore natural forests but only old-growth forests can be found.
