During the XX and XXI Italian Antarctic expeditions (2004/05, 2005/06), 668 rocks have been sampled within the aim of the project "Chronologic-dynamic zoning of the Ross Orogen" in northern and southern Victoria Land. They include intrusive, subvolcanic, volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The investigated regions are within Cape Hallett SS 58-60/2, Coulman Island SS 58-60/6, Daniels Range SR 57-58/14, Freyberg Mountains SS 58-60/1, Mount Melbourne SS 58-60/9, Mount Murchison SS 58-60/5, Mount Soza SR 57-58/15, Ob' Bay SR 57-58/11, Pomerantz Tableland SR 57-58/10, Relief Inlet SS 58-60/13, Sequence Hills SS 55-57/8 and Welcome Mountain SS 55-57/4 USGS sheets.

During the XXVI and XXVII Italian Antarctic expeditions (2010/11, 2011/12), 668 rocks have been sampled within the aim of the project "Geological continental markers of Cenozoic climate changes in Victoria Land, Antarctica" in northern Victoria Land. They include intrusive, subvolcanic, volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The investigated regions are within Cape Hallett SS 58-60/2, Coulman Island SS 58-60/6, Mount Joyce SS 55-57/16, Mount Melbourne SS 58-60/9, Mount Murchison SS 58-60/5 and Relief Inlet SS 58-60/13 USGS sheets.

The Concordia Research Station provides a unique location for preparatory activities for future human journey to Mars, to explore microbial diversity at subzero temperatures and monitor the dissemination of human-associated microorganisms within the pristine surrounding environment. The present study was performed in the frame of the BacFinder project (European Space Agency, ESA AO-13-Concordia) with the aim to unravel the environmental- and human-associated microbial diversity in the surrounding of the Concordia Station. This is the first intensive and extensive surface snow sampling performed monthly over a two-year period at three distances (10, 500, and 1000 m) from the Concordia Station, and investigated by a high-throughput sequencing approach. Emphasis was laid on the relation between microbial presence and both seasonality and distance from the Base. Data suggested that if present the anthropogenic impact was below the detection limit of the employed DNA sequencing-based techniques. On the other hand, our study corroborated the use of DNA sequencing for revealing microbial presence in remote and hostile environments, with implications for Planetary Protections and for life-detection in astrobiology relevant targets.

This dataset includes all the lunar meteorites (achondrites) collected during the Italian Antarctic Expeditions since 2013 in Victoria Land and now preserved at the repository of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide.

During the XXVIII Italian Antarctic expedition (2012/13), 275 rocks have been sampled within the aim of the project "The Triassic-Jurassic depositional and magmatic events of Victoria Land successions (Antarctica) and paleoclimatic variations in the Gondwanian province" in northern and southern Victoria Land. They include intrusive, subvolcanic, volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The investigated regions are within Convoy Range ST 57-60/1, Freyberg Mountains SS 58-60/1, Mount Joyce SS 55-57/16, Mount Melbourne SS 58-60/9, Mount Murchison SS 58-60/5, Reeves Névé SS 55-57/12, Sequence Hills SS 55-57/8 and Taylor Glacier ST 57-60/5 USGS sheets.

Culture Collection of Fungi From Extreme Environments (CCFEE) Tuscia Associated Section The Mycological Section of the MNA was founded in 2006 at the University of Tuscia, where the group of Systematic Botany and Mycology had established a collection of Antarctic microfungi. Since that time, the collection has been constantly implemented and today includes about 277 fungal strains belonging to 55 species. One of the main aim pursued by the CCFEE is the conservation of rock specimens, colonized by cryptoendolithic fungi and lichens, collected in the framework of PNRA expeditions. Part of the mission includes the study and valorisation of microfungi isolated from various types of Antarctic samples, including soil, mosses and, above all, rocks collected over about 30 years of Antarctic researches. Rocks are preserved at –20 °C and the cultures on slant agar, frozen form at – 80 °C; yeasts are freeze-dried. Samples curated at CCFEE are indicated by the code MNA-CCFEE-progressive in the database.