The use of charcoal dates back to ancient times and can be considered to have progressed hand in hand with metalworking. In Italy, the consumption of plant fuels remained widespread and extremely high until the second post-war period due to the scarcity of fossil fuels and the maintenance of traditional social and economic structures. This marks a significant difference from other European countries where charcoal was already in decline in the 1700s due to the use of coke in metallurgy and a different model of industrialization. There are evidence of the production of charcoal as early as the Etruscan era, until 1970 it was still a quite common activity. Charcoal was produced in almost all Italian forests from the Alps to Sicily and at all altitudes. However, it is not possible to define a type of “charcoal forests”, as this was made almost regardless of the type of forest, even though some forests had more favourable characteristics than others, especially coppiced forests. Charcoal is less bulky than firewood, which facilitates its transport, but it also ignites more easily and has a higher calorific value, being about double that of wood. Therefore, considering the calorific power per unit of weight, it was often much more convenient to produce charcoal in the forest and then transport it to the roads than to simply produce wood. Charcoal burners usually worked together in “companies” that were formed at the beginning of the season and based on friendships and acquaintances. Life in the forest could have not a few difficulties of cohabitation, but generally each company remained united for several years, often being made up of a family nucleus with or without external components. Charcoal burning has left many traces in the forest landscape. Charcoal remains from former charcoal kilns provide information at fine spatial scales, capturing local woody-species composition and revealing the history of landscape management. In Italy is quite common to find remains of charcoal kilns platforms in areas protected for the naturalness of the vegetation, suggesting a previous history of forest utilizations. Charcoal burning platforms could reach a density up to 10 per hectare.