Italian Orchids

Preface
The classification of orchids has never been very stable, and even in the past the publication of a new work often changed, sometimes profoundly, the taxonomy in use at that time. In recent years ever more sophisticated techniques, especially the use of molecular markers, have accelerated this phenomenon and whoever approaches this fascinating family of plants can be bewildered by the almost continual nomenclatural changes.
For this reason I have, up to now, resisted various requests to write a book on the Italian orchids in the hope that studies in progress, including my own, would stabilize the classification: something I do not expect to happen in the near future. However, I found it impossible to refuse the proposal by the Ministry of Environment, via the Italian Botanical Society, to write a text to accompany the splendid plates of Mrs. Maury. This book should be considered not as a critical revision of what has been written to date on Italian orchids, but as an accompaniment to a pre-existing collection of illustrations. However, I have taken the opportunity presented to express my own opinions on certain controversial cases and to include some previously unpublished data.
This work would not have been possible without the collaboration of numerous colleagues and friends from whom I received comments, information and encouragement. I thank them all without quoting the long list of their names. A special mention however goes to Paolo Grünanger whose collaboration has been an essential contribution to this volume. He has published an important work on the Italian orchids to which one should refer for the most recently described taxa and for an exhaustive bibliography (Grünanger 2001).
Finally, to my late wife Graziella, who recently and unexpectedly passed away, I dedicate this book with affection and gratitude.