IntroduzioneLa rete Natura 2000 è una rete ecologica istituita nei paesi dell'Unione Europea (UE) agli inizi degli anni '90 del secolo scorso. La rete ecologica è stata istituita con la Direttiva 92/43/CEE "Habitat" e dalla Direttiva 79/409/CE "Uccelli", quest'ultima recentemente abrogata e sostituita integralmente dalla Direttiva 2009/147/CE, con il fine prioritario di salvaguardare nel lungo periodo la biodiversità mediante la conservazione degli habitat naturali e seminatura- Consequently, each country has adopted a different participatory strategy taking into account the principles of integration approach. The integration approach is based on combining human activities and nature conservation purposes in the same area or, at least, in areas in close proximity. In Italy, the implementation of Natura 2000 network was developed at local level (Regions and Autonomous Provinces) using different approaches and procedures. Starting from these considerations, the aim of the study was to analyse the stakeholders' involvement process during the implementation of Habitats Directive in Italy and the management of Natura 2000 sites. This study was realized using three main criteria with the respective indicators: (1) inclusiveness of participatory process; (2) democracy of participatory process; (3) cooperation and conflicts during the implementation process of Natura 2000 network. The data were collected through the administration by email of a semi-structured questionnaire to 56 stakeholders divided in four main groups of interest (public administrations, universities and research centres, environmental associations, private organizations). The results of the survey show that the participatory process was characterized by a low level of inclusiveness despite the existence of some best practices at local level. In many cases, the decisions were taken by a low number of stakeholders -mostly public administrations -while the individuals of local community were only informed. Conversely, the results highlights as positive aspect the increasing level of trust among stakeholders after the Natura 2000 network implementation process.