The seismic sequence of the Umbria-Marche Apennines was a dramatic moment for the population involved; at the same time, it provided a unique occasion for the Italian scientific community and for the national civil protection to assess their respective abilities in understanding and managing the event. Furthermore, macroseismology (including historical seismology) has knowingly confronted important methodological problems, such as the procedures for assigning macroseismic intensity, the use of the macroseismic scale, the impossibility of distinguishing the effects of earthquakes following closely in both space and time, within such a complex sequence. Starting from the analysis of the problems that were faced after the 1997/98 Umbria- Marche earthquakes, as during the following seismic crises over the last 10 years, we propose some considerations on the lessons we have learnt from that seismic sequence.