User:InflatableSupertrooper/UNESCO Italy

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Italy ratified the convention on 23 June 1978, making its historical and natural sites eligible for inclusion on the list.

The first site located in Italy was inscribed on the list at the 3rd Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairo, Egypt in October 1979. At that session, only one site was added, the "Rock Drawings in Valcamonica", one of the world's largest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs in Brescia.

Five more sites were added in 1980, and another four in 1986. Apart from 1984, 1985, and 1986 (Spain's first three years as a member), 2000 saw the most new sites inscribed, with five that year. As of June 2013, Spain has 44 total sites inscribed on the list, third only to China (45) and Italy (49). Of these 44 sites, 39 are cultural, 3 are natural, and 2 are mixed (meeting both cultural and natural criteria), as determined by the organization's selection criteria.

The Pyrénées – Mont Perdu World Heritage Site is shared with France, while the Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde site is shared with Portugal. Besides that, Almadén is inscribed alongside Idrija in Slovenia. Of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, Castile and León has the most sites, with six exclusive and two shared sites.

Additionally, Spain has established an agreement with UNESCO known as the Spanish Funds-in-Trust. The agreement was signed on April 18, 2002 between Francisco Villar, Spanish Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, and the Director-General of UNESCO, Kōichirō Matsuura. The fund provides € 600,000 annually to a chosen program. Programs include helping other member states, particularly in Latin America, with projects such as nominations processes and assessing tentative sites. Spain served as the chair of the World Heritage Committee in 2008 and 2009, and in 2009 hosted the 33rd Session of the Committee in Seville, Andalusia.

List of sites
The table lists information about each World Heritage Site:
 * Name: as listed by the World Heritage Committee
 * Location: city or province of site
 * Region: one of the 20 regions of Italy
 * Period: time period of significance, typically of construction
 * UNESCO data: the site's reference number; the year the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List; the criteria it was listed under: criteria i through vi are cultural, while vii through x are natural; (the column sorts by year added to the list)
 * Description: brief description of the site

Sites by region
"Exclusive site" refers to sites located entirely within a single region of Italy. "Shared site" refers to sites situated in multiple regions, or those shared by Italian region and neighbouring country, including Pyrénées – Mont Perdu, which Aragon shares with France, and Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde, which Castile and León shares with Portugal.

Tentative list
In addition to sites inscribed on the World Heritage list, member states can maintain a list of tentative sites that they may consider for nomination. Nominations for the World Heritage list are only accepted if the site was previously listed on the tentative list. As of 2012, Spain recorded 25 sites on its tentative list. The sites, along with the year they were included on the tentative list are:


 * 1) The Ribeira Sacra, Lugo and Orense (1996)
 * 2) The Architecture of Dry Built Stone (1998)
 * 3) Bulwarked Frontier Fortifications (1998)
 * 4) Mediterranean Wind Mills (1998)
 * 5) The Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Natural Surroundings (1998)
 * 6) Romanesque Cultural Enclave in the North of Castile-León and the South of Cantabria (1998)
 * 7) The Silver Route (1998)
 * 8) Wine and Vineyard Cultural Itinerary through Mediterranean Towns (1998)
 * 9) Cultural Itinerary of Francis Xavier (2001)
 * 10) Dinosaur Ichnite Sites of the Iberian Peninsula (2002)
 * 11) Greek Archaeological ensemble in Empúries, l'Escala, Girona (2002)
 * 12) The Mediterranean Facet of the Pyrenees (France-Spain) (2004)
 * 13) Ancares – Somiedo (2007)
 * 14) El Ferrol of the Illustration Historical Heritage (2007)
 * 15) Historic City-Centre of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (2007)
 * 16) Loarre Castle (2007)
 * 17) Mesta Livestock trails (2007)
 * 18) Mining Historical Heritage (2007)
 * 19) The Northern or Primitive Route (extension of the Route of Santiago de Compostella) (2007)
 * 20) Renaissance and Baroque Arch in the City of Granada (extension of Granada) (2007)
 * 21) Roman Ways, Itineraries of the Roman Empire (2007)
 * 22) Plasencia – Monfragüe – Trujillo (2009)
 * 23) Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (2010)
 * 24) Valle Salado de Añana (2012)
 * 25) Jaén Cathedral (extension of the Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Ubeda and Baeza) (2012)
 * 26) Antequera dolmen sites