The Upper Paleozoic sequences in the southern Alps are prevalently continental (transitional marine facies are present in the Upper Permian to the east) terrigenous-vulcanoclastic sequences which cover the Varisic basement.

The Lower Permian sequences, extremely articulated as regards the typology of the continental depositional environments, presented many levels in which there were numerous vertebrate footprints. The footprints of the Lower Permian of the central Alps were the first tetrapod footprints to be studied in Italy (Curioni, 1870). Subsequently these fossils were studied by many other authors from Geinitz (1869) and Gümbel (1880) to Nicosia et al. (2000), Santi and Krieger (2001), both from the same basin in the Trompia valley and from various localities in the Orobic basin (Conti et al., 1997).

These sediments were deposited in extremely variable environments in which areas with vegetation, alluvial areas, emersed wet zones or with thin sheets of water characterised by temporary and repeated emersions are represented. Together with the small and medium sized vertebrates there was a varied association of arthropods ( Dendroidichnites elegans Demathieu, Gand and Toutin-Morin, 1992; Bifurculapes Hitchcock, 1858; Tambia spiralis Müller, 1956; Permichnium Guthörl, 1934; ?Scoyenia White, 1929), bivalves ( _Anthracosiidae _), small crustaceans ( Estheria ) and small freshwater medusa ( M. limnica Müller, 1978; M. atava (Pohlig, 1892).

The tetrapod footprints in the Orobic basin comprise Batrachichnus salamandroides (Geinitz, 1861), Camunipes cassinisi Ceoloni et al., 1987, Amphisauropus imminutus, Amphisauropus latus, Varanopus curvidactylus and Dromopus lacertoides.

The Orobic basin represents one of the areas with the highest level of faunal diversity of the Permian period in the world. Its ichnofauna, although studied sporadically in the past, has not been collocated with great precision within the sedimentary sequences. This is due to the difficult out cropping conditions and the preference for collecting material from detritus rather than from the outcrops themselves. The sequence present in the Orobic basin presents numerous fine-grained levels which are particularly favourable for the preservation of tetrapod footprints. Recent stratigraphic investigations identified areas characterised by a high density of tracks and diverse types of footprints. At present a complete description of the fauna and their paleo-environmental context is lacking. The discovery of tracks in out-cropping sequences provides a rare opportunity to place these fossils in a precise stratigraphic position and thus document ichnological data relating to very precise intervals of time. Therefore, this research aims to analyse the distribution of the ichnofauna by strata and to reconstruct possible variations within the associations at different times.

The presence of large surface areas with footprints may also make it possible to recover material of use for exposition in a museum, either through its removal of the taking of casts, and for illustrating the research results.