Abstract

On April 8th 2010 the Convention on the protection of underwater cultural heritage, adopted on November 2nd 2001 by the UNESCO General Conference, has come into force in Italy through the law number 157 on October 23rd 2009. This report aims to give a detailed overview and evaluation of the current protection of underwater cultural heritage in Italy through the analysis of the main principles of the UNESCO Convention 2001, the most important rules of its Annex, and the core points of the Italian law.