Following the first edition of this congress, held in Lisbon (Portugal) in 2013 and the second edition organized in Graz (Austria) in 2015, the third edition of STRATI has been assigned by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) to Italy, a country with a long historical tradition in Stratigraphy since the 17th century. The foundation of Stratigraphy was in fact laid in Italy by outstanding naturalist Niels Stensen, whereas the basic subdivision of strata was devised a century later by Giovanni Arduino and brought to international usage by the work of Giambattista Brocchi. A wide variety of extraordinary stratigraphic successions and settings, often preserved in breath-taking natural environments, can be visited in Italy.

The topics of the congress will range from the Precambrian to the Holocene and will include all stratigraphic techniques. The congress will provide the opportunity to discuss the recent developments in the study of the stratigraphy of volcanic areas, Antarctic and Artic sedimentary successions and ice caps, and crystalline rocks. Specialists from georesources exploration and hydrogeology are invited to present their most advanced contributions to subsurface stratigraphy.