OBJECTIVES: to prepare a map of avoidable deaths in Italy and to estimate the years of life lost (YLLs) for a number of pathologies. METHODS: mortality was calculated from data provided by the national statistic office (ISTAT) for the year 1994. Causes of death were grouped into 37 principal categories. All mortality rates are expressed as deaths/100,000 inhabitants, and were standardised by age and sex using the “direct” method. The standardised mortality rate (SMR) was also calculated, along with the estimate of the number of YLLs for each cause of avoidable death, using ISTAT life expectancy tables. The various causes of death were then grouped into 3 different categories (deaths avoidable exclusively with primary prevention intervention, avoidable with timely diagnosis and appropriate therapy, avoidable with a mix of prevention and therapy). RESULTS: data were used to draw maps describing unhomogeneous avoidable death rates and number of YLLs in different pathologies. For instance, the mortality rate due to hypertension and cerebrovascular accidents showed a higher value (about twofold) in Southern Italy than in Northern Italy; again, the mortality rate of myocardial infarction showed a higher value (about 1.5 times) in the Northern-East regions than in Southern regions. Furthermore, it appears that in Northern part of Italy avoidable deaths, in terms of YLLs, are especially due to the lack of primary prevention interventions (i.e. mainly due to life style and environmental factors), while in Southern Italy avoidable deaths due to lack of timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment are higher than in Northern Italy. CONCLUSION: our data reflect different levels of health care existing among the different Italian regions. This could represent the starting point for improving the quality and the equity of the National Health System.