Soil salinization and sodification risks are two of the main threats in agricultural soils of Italy (Dazzi, 2008). In Italy they are mainly due to irrigation with saline waters (Dazzi and Lo Papa, 2013), to seawater intrusion (Castrignanò et al., 2008, Dazzi and Lo Papa, 2013, Selvaggi et al., 2010), and to saline parent materials (Dazzi and Fierotti, 1994). The water level is strictly regulated by channels and pumping stations (Vittori Antisari et al., 2020; Buscaroli and Zannoni, 2010; Teatini et al., 2007), and seawater intrusion along rivers, canals and in the groundwater aquifer is exacerbated by subsidence (Teatini et al., 2005). The salt-rich parent material can be exposed due to soil erosion (Piccarreta et al., 2006; Cocco et al., 2015). In the last decades, several Italian regional authorities for soil data produced soil salinity (risk) maps, resorting to different mapping approaches. Previous examples of salinity risk maps of Italy have been also attempted (Dazzi, 2008, Costantini et al. 2009). This works presents the maps of salt-affected soils of Italy, as part of the 1k grid GSSmap, realized adopting the procedure proposed by the Global Soil Partnership (GSP), and involving the Italian regional authorities, which are part of the Italian Soil Partnership.

Acknowledgements We acknowledge the Italian Soil Partnership for the collaboration and the project SoilHUB (DM Mipaaf n. 35851 05/11/2019) for the financial support. The following regional authorities are particularly acknowledged for data provision and validation of the results: Raffaele Cherchi, General Director, and Gianni Piredda, Director of the Service for Environmental Researches of AGRIS (Sardinia); the General Direction of ARPAV (Veneto); the General Direction of ERSA (Friuli Venezia Giulia); Bernardo Gozzini, the General Administrator of LaMMA Consortium (Tuscany); Lorenzo Bisogni, the Director of the Agroenvironmental Policies (Marche); Monica Guida, Director of the Geological, Seismic and Soil Service (Emilia Romagna), Sandra di Ferdinando, Director of the Service for Characterization of Quality Productions of ARSIAL (Lazio); Domenico Campanile, and Francesco Bellino, Service for the Sustainable Management of Environmental Resources (Apulia). We acknowledge for the data provision the private enterprise SO.IN.G. s.r.l. and its Director Annalisa Morelli. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.