Biostratigraphic and palaeomagnetic research has been carried out on selected profiles in North-Western Germany and Central Italy in order to correlate Plio-Pleistocene sections. Around the Réunion subchronozone, vegetation in the Valle Ricca was dominated by a mountain forest type pointing to cool climatic conditions. In the Lower Rhine Basin vegetation had a slightly warmer character, but was also dominated strongly by a mountain type of forest vegetation, characteristic of cooler summers and higher precipitation than at present. Two warmer periods have been determined in the Central Italian profiles; the youngest around the Olduvai reversal, should correspond to the youngest Tiglian beds of the Lower Rhine Basin. Deposits older than the Réunion subzone have not been found in the Valle Ricca. In the Lower Rhine Basin, on the other hand, the Gauss-Matuyama boundary is located between the uppermost Pliocene, the Reuverian C and the Praetiglian.