• These were traditionally attributed to a late/post-orogenic crustal extension at the rear of the Northern Apen- nines since the late Miocene (Sestini, 1970; Elter et al., 1975), as an effect of large-scale back-arc processes (Jolivet et al., 2008) or gravitational instability of thickened crust (Carmignani & Kligfield, 1990; Carmignani et al., 1994). An alternative hypothesis ascribes the tectono-sedimentary evolution of these basins to compressive stress accumulated in the frontal zones of the chain and accommodated in inner portions by the reactivation of NE-verging thrusts and/or the activation of SW-verging backthrusts (Bonini & Sani, 2002; Sani et al., 2009). During the latest Messinian and the Zanclean, compression along the basin margins, together with a buried, basin-parallel high, controlled the development of two sub-basins.