Micro the magazine of AMI - Associazione Micromineralogica Italiana

The magazine Micro is a periodic colour publication of AMI - Associazione Micromineralogica Italiana (Italian Micromineralogical Association) in three issues per year (April, September and December) each of them of 48 pages (96 in case of double issue). First issue in 2003.
AMI is an nonprofit association gathering people interested in systematic and topological mineralogy and especially collectors who, to better understand and appreciate the mineral specimens, use a microscope.
The general purpose of AMI is to promote, support and encourage the work and activity of individuals, organizations and moral and legal associations, who are interested in micromineralogy and systematic mineralogy, and, particularly:

  • a) to promote and implement the knowledge of mineralogy and related disciplines;
  • b) to establish relations between all persons, entities and associations who are interested, both in Italy and abroad, to micromineralogy and systematic mineralogy in general;
  • c) to collect, create and disseminate all documentation relating to micromineralogy and systematic mineralogy, micro-assembly, macrophotography, macro-shooting and mineralogy in general with particular regard to descriptive mineralogy;
  • d) to facilitate links between its members and the responsible official bodies in the Mineralogical Sciences field.
  • At today AMI members are about 500, and some (~20) are not Italian. The annual cost for the membership fee is 30 € for the senior fellows and 15 € for the juniors ones.

    Byelaws of the association and members of the Board are in the following web page: www.amiminerals.it
    A discussion forum is in this web page: forum.amiminerals.iti
    Thanks to special agreements with the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Turin, AMI offers to the members a totally free service for the identification of rare and unusual mineral species, having the possibility to use the instrumentations of SEM-EDS, Raman and diffractometer CCD for minerals’ characterization.

    AMI is also an editor. At today published (and co-edited) the following books:

    • Massimo Russo & Imma Punzo (2004): I Minerali del Somma Vesuvio, 320 pp. (in Italian)
    • Marco E. Ciriotti, Lorenza Fascio, Marco Pasero (2009): Italian Type Minerals, 357 pp. (in English)
    • Cristian Biagioni (2009): I Minerali della Provincia di Lucca, - pp. (in Italian)
    • Paolo Stara, Roberto Rizzo, Mauro Astolfi (2011): Minerali della Sardegna nei Musei Italiani, 203 pp. (in Italian and English)
    • Italo Campostrini, Francesco Demartin, Carlo Maria Gramaccioli, Massimo Russo (2011): Vulcano Tre secoli di mineralogia, 343 pp. (in Italian and English)
    • Sergio Pegoraro (2014): Miniere e Minerali dell’Alto Vicentino - I Monti d’Oro, 400 pp. (in Italian)
    and the following are currently in progress:
    • Le Cetine di Cotorniano - Miniere e Minerali
    • I Minerali del Gruppo della Vesuvianite
    Cooperation agreement are currently in force with AFM - Association Française de Microminéralogie (French Association of Micromineralogy), and 4 M - Association des Micromonteurs de Minéraux de Montigny-le-Tilleul (the Belgian equivalent).
    The magazine Micro is sent (without any additional costs) to all AMI members and to about 100 major Italian museums of Natural Sciences.

    Editorial and Scientific Board of Micro:
    • Editor in Chief: Marco E. Ciriotti (m.ciriotti@tin.it) 
    • Editorial Board: Marco E. Ciriotti, Cristian Biagioni, Roberto Bracco, Italo Campostrini, Gian Carlo Piccoli, Roberto Appiani
    • Scientific Board: Marco E. Ciriotti, Corrado Balestra, Danilo Bersani, Fernando Cámara, Francesco Demartin, Antonio Gamboni, Uwe Kolitsch, Marco Marchesini, Paolo Orlandi, Marco Pasero, Massimo Russo, Marco Sturla
    • Grafic Design: Roberto Appiani and Stefania Bensaia.