La storia della geologia in Italia: primo bilancio di un percorso storiografico transdisciplinare

The aim of this paper is to present a survey on the development of the historical studies on different fields of the geological sciences in Italy, in order to evaluate the state of the art of this discipline and its interdisciplinary potential. A critical historical overview is provided, from the early historiographical attempts in the 19th century until the researches undertaken by geologists and historians during the 20th century, mainly within various fields of the Earth sciences and the history of science. The different methodological approaches, as well as the results of these studies, are presented and compared. The role of the history of geology within the scientific and academic communities of geoscientists and historians, is also discussed, in order to provide suggestions for more collaborations and interactions between the two cultures. The history of geology must be extremely open and flexible to new models and practices, because its topics are constantly changing and evolving. A future challenge should include the adoption of more specific interdisciplinary skills and approaches both in human and natural sciences.