Chromosome numbers of the Italian flora. From the Caryologia foundation to present

After slightly more than four decades from the first chromosome counts ever, the very first chromosome count on Italian plants was published in 1925 by Alberto Chiarugi. From this starting point, fundamental cornerstones of Italian plant karyology are: 1) the foundation, in Pisa, of the international journal Caryologia, now edited in Florence and indexed by ISI Web of Science (c) under the category Genetics and Heredity. 2) the constitution, within the Italian Botanical Society, of the Working Group for Plant Cytotaxonomy and Embryology (currently Plant Biosystematics), which in 1970 (still in Pisa) fostered the publication of the column Numeri Cromosomici per la Flora Italiana on the journal Informatore Botanico Italiano. 3) the constitution, at the end of the '90s, of the online database Chrobase.it - Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora. The history and role of cytotaxonomic research is highlighted, by reconstructing life and science of four eminent scientists: Alberto Chiarugi (1901-1960), Giuseppe Martinoli (1911-1970), Francesco D'Amato (1916-1998) and Emilio Battaglia (1917-2011). Despite 86 years of more or less continuous research, the geographical and taxonomical coverage of the Italian territory is still incomplete.