Lichens growing on rocks cause physico-chemical deterioration processes, being particularly harmful when they colonize stonework. Considering the different aims and experimental approaches, the countless researches about lichen deterioration are not so adequate to assess the lichen biodeteriogenic activity on stonework and thus to plane proportionate conservation programs. Recently, an Index of Lichen Potential Biodeteriogenic Activity (LPBA) has been tentatively proposed to organize information, available from both previous literature and new researches for the evaluation of the potential risk associated to bioprotection. The application of the LPBA index to more and more case studies in Italy but also in the whole Mediterranean basin is wished for, in order to validate the index parameters and to create an interpretation scale
