The Rivista Geografica Italiana was first published in Florence in 1894, the brainchild of the geographer Filippo Maria Pasanisi. A striking feature of the first number, which set out the journal’s programme for the years to come, was the intent to promote and spread reliable knowledge about Italy. One of the main tasks of the journal is, in fact, in the words of the editors Filippo Maria Pasanisi and Giovanni Marinelli, to undertake with scientific rigour "the task of collecting, ordering and slowly but effectively analysing some of the fundamental facts about our country" It was not long before the Rivista became the organ of the Società di Studi Geografici e Coloniali (Società di Studi Geografici), which was founded in Florence in 1895. In its first year the Rivista ran to over 650 pages. The contributors, in addition to the two editors, included some of the major Italian geographers of the time: Mario Baratta, Renato Biasutti, Giovanni De Agostini, Olinto Marinelli, Attilio Mori. 
Looking at the material published in the Rivista from its earliest days, it becomes clear that the original aims and structure have remained essentially unchanged. The strictly scientific nature of its publications, which developed alongside a gradual broadening of the themes which were discussed, has remained a fundamental characteristic of the editorial approach. 
Today the Rivista Geografica Italiana is the pre-eminent vehicle for geographical studies in the Italian linguistic and cultural area. It’s the only human geography journal, among those published in Italy, that is listed in the “Scopus” repertoire, since 2013. 
In the context of a scientific debate that becomes ever more international in character, the desire and necessity of moving beyond the restricted circle of those who read Italian has led to English, French and Spanish being adopted as the other official languages of the Rivista. 
The Rivista Geografica Italiana is published quarterly (March, June, September and December). 
It consists of the following sections: Articles: scientific papers whose originality and quality have been assessed by Italian and/or foreign experts. 
Opinions and debates: they are not subject to peer review but simply to quality control on the part of the editorial board. They consist of opinions on various subjects, for which the authors are regarded as being primarily responsible. 
Bibliographical Information: includes reviews of books published in Italy and abroad in the two years preceding the publication of each issue of the Rivista, which are regarded as being of interest to the geographical community. 
The aim of the Rivista is to provide a high quality forum for Italian and international scholars of geography and related disciplines who wish to bring their work before the scientific geographical community.