The Italian Observatory for Palliative Care (OICP *) was born on April 2000 targeted to counting in a census and listing all centres operating in Italy in the field of Palliative Care. The results have been implemented in a web site, whose address is www.oicp.org, which is an interactive site and allows a continuous database updating. Nowadays OICP web site contains about 400 addresses of Italian palliative care units, hospices and no-profit organisations. In 2002, a OICP ‘‘Research Centre’’ has been promoted with the aim of carrying out some epidemiological and clinical researches on pain and palliative care. All centres included in the OICP list of addresses have been invited to take part in the project. The most innovating feature, at least in the Italian environment, consists in the exclusively on-line methodology for the research execution, obtaining both great advantages, the costs cutting down and the immediate data conveyance. Whit this methodology, in 2002 it has been achieved the project ‘‘Pain and its treatment in terminal cancer patients looked after palliative care teams’’, in which 51 palliative care units have been involved and 843 patients have been studied. In 2003 the survey ‘‘Pain and its treatment in terminal cancer patients before starting a specialistic palliative care program’’ has been held and data analysis is ongoing. It includes 49 centres and 804 patients, that allows a comparison between specialistic and generalistic sets of treatment of cancer pain. The main results of both surveys will be presented. *OICP is supported by Gr_nenthal- Formenti.