The naturalistic features present here have pushed many scholars, mostly botanists, but also zoologists and geologists, to explore these mountains since ancient times. The first botanical references to the Apuan region are found in the publications of ANGUILLARA (1561) and of LOBEL and PENA (1570), as well as in various manuscripts and in the herbarium of ALDROVANDI, where an excursion of 1553 is narrated (SOLDANO, 2004 ). Later botanical information on the Apuan Alps is found in BOCCONE (1697); in the following century there was a growing interest in the works of VITMAN (1773) and TARGIONI-TOZZETTI (1777).
Floristic knowledge of the Apuan Alps increased considerably in the nineteenth century, when various studies on the Apuan flora were produced (SAVI, 1804, 1808-1825; BERTOLONI, 1819, 1832 and SIMI, 1851) and described new species of exclusive plants of the Apuan territory ( VIVIANI, 1804, 1808; SAVI, 1804; BERTOLONI, 1819, 1832; SOMMIER, 1894). In a single work followed by two supplements, the complete knowledge of the Tuscan flora is summarized (CARUEL, 1860, 1866, 1870). Subsequently PELLEGRINI (1942) provides very detailed data for the part of the territory that falls within the province of Massa-Carrara. In the second half of the twentieth century, studies dedicated to the Apuan region multiplied dramatically in various strands: floristic studies, vegetational studies, studies on threatened species, research on fossil pollen, cytotaxonomic and biosystematic studies. Of fundamental importance from a floristic point of view are certainly the three volumes of the Prodrome to the Flora of the Apuan Region (FERRARINI & MARCHETTI, 1994; FERRARINI et al., 1997; FERRARINI, 2001), the latest global work on Apuan flora.
