The Cruise Summary Reports metadatabase maintained at OGS-NODC gathers more than 250 entries, the oldest cruise dating from 1909. Most of them have been carried out on board Italian Research Vessels. Some of them have also been reported from scientific joint projects or ship exchange programs with foreign organisations. The inventory aims at facilitating the search on information and data collected during the research cruises. Each cruise is briefly described by the chief scientist(s) with regards to objectives, works carried out, geographical area, location track, bibliographical references. The works cover several disciplines : marine geology, geophysics, physics, chemistry and biology.