Monte San Giorgio: a unique window on the Middle Triassic
Monte San Giorgio is a mountain complex located between Lombardy (Italy) and Canton Ticino (Switzerland), known for containing one of the world's most important fossil deposits dating back to the Middle Triassic, a period between 247 and 237 million years ago. The site takes its name from the highest peak of the massif.
Since 1860, Swiss and Italian palaeontologists have found fossils in this area that are extraordinary in terms of their variety, rarity, uniqueness and state of preservation. The presence of numerous overlapping fossiliferous levels has made it possible to reconstruct the evolution of entire groups of marine and terrestrial organisms over a period of millions of years, providing an exceptionally valuable scientific reference.
For these reasons, Monte San Giorgio has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: in 2003 for the Swiss side and in 2010 for the Italian side. As stated in the official motivations, the represents the area that best documents the marine and terrestrial life of the Middle Triassic, with often exceptionally complete and well-preserved fossils. Intense research activity, combined with the rigorous management of excavations, has led to the formation of rich and well-documented collections, the basis of numerous high-level scientific publications.
The area inscribed on the World Heritage List covers more than 849 hectares, surrounded by a buffer zone of 1,384 hectares to protect the integrity and conservation of the site.
Project financed with funds from Law no. 77 of 20 February 2006
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