This study, carried out in central-southern Italy, shows that surficial density contrasts markedly affect the regional gravity anomalies trend, conditioning both the reconstruction and the interpretation of this trend. Actually, Bouguer anomalies can be very dependent on density contrast in the upper crust, which can, in turn, greatly condition the Bouguer anomalies spatial distribution. Therefore the Bouguer anomalies distribution cannot be considered a direct expression of the deep structures. Maps of the Moho based on the Bouguer anomaly trend, or on filtered gravity anomalies, are affected by this uncertainty.To deal with this problem we applied a methodology that can be used to sort out the contributions of deep and surficial bodies. Such a methodology, called “stripping”, was applied in the present work. The obtained map of the deep-sourced gravity anomalies from this region provides a useful tool for investigating the deep features of the Apennines, revealing that also the deep structures of the Apennine chain are characterized by low cylindrism
