According to UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural branch, two thirds of the world's historical artistic heritage are in Italy. Tuscany, which is only one region of Italy, by itself possesses more artistic treasures than the whole of Spain, which is the second country in the world for cultural heritage. Practically all major styles of Western architecture can be found in Italy.
The following Italian sites have been placed by UNESCO on its World Heritage List :
1979 Rock Drawings in Valcamonica (Lombardy)
1980, 1990 Historic Centre of Rome, the properties of the Holy See in that city enjoying extraterritorial rights, and San Paolo fuori le Mura (Latium)
1980 Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci - Milano (Lombardy)
1982 Historic Centre of Florence (Tuscany)
1987 Venice and its Lagoon (Veneto)
1987 Piazza del Duomo - Pisa (Tuscany)
1990 Historic Centre of San Gimignano (Siena, Tuscany)
1993 I Sassi di Matera (Basilicata)
1994 The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas (Veneto)
1995 Historic Centre of Siena (Tuscany)
1995 Historic Centre of Naples (Campania)
1995 Crespi d'Adda - Capriate (Lombardy)
1995 Ferrara, City of the Renaissance and its Po Delta (Emilia-Romagna)
1996 Castel del Monte - Bari (Apulia)
1996 The Trulli of Alberobello - Bari (Apulia)
1996 The Early Christian Monuments and Mosaics of Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna)
1996 The Historic Centre of the City of Pienza (Siena, Tuscany)
1997 The 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex (Campania)
1997 The Residences of the Royal House of Savoia (Piedmont)
1997 The Botanical Garden, Orto Botanico - Padua (Veneto)
1997 The Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande - Modena (Emilia-Romagna)
1997 The Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Ercolano, and Torre Annunziata (Naples, Campania)
1997 Villa Romana del Casale - Piazza Armerina (Enna, Sicily)
1997 Su Nuraxi di Barumini, Cagliari (Sardinia)
1997 Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) (Liguria)
1997 The Amalfi Coast, Costiera Amalfitana - Salerno (Campania)
1997 The Archaeological Area of Agrigento (Sicily)
1998 Cilento and Vallo di Adriano National Park with the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula (Salerno, Campania)
1998 Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia (Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
1998 Historic Centre of Urbino (Marches)
1999 Villa Adriana (Tivoli - Latium)
2000 City of Verona (Veneto)
2000 Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands, Sicily)
2000 Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites (Umbria)
2001 Villa d'Este, Tivoli (Latium)
2002 Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-eastern Sicily)
2003 Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy