In 1990 we studied the prevalence and determinants of carotid atherosclerosis in an Italian general asymptomatic population (630 males and 718 females aged 18-99 years) living in the San Daniele district of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region. The global prevalence of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis was 25.4% in men and 26.4% in women. We considered intima-media thickness, non-stenotic plaque (< 40%), and stenotic plaque (> 40%). In the multiple logistic regression, the cross-sectional analysis of subjects aged 40 years showed a positive significant association between plaques/stenosis and age (p < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (p < 0.01), cigarette smoking (p < 0.0001), and the protective effect of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p < 0.037). In 2002 we decided to re-examine the initial cohort with the following objectives: prospectively evaluating the modifications of the previous carotid findings, their relationship with known and less documented cardiovascular risk factors and the predictive power of those variations on incident coronary and cerebrovascular events. We plan to evaluate the association of carotid plaque and carotid intima-media thickness with the genetic polymorphisms involved in atherosclerosis in survivors and finally to study the incidence and the determinants of atrial fibrillation in a general population. In this paper, we will describe the methodology of the screening and the cohort population characteristics. We have compared the San Daniele Project survivor cohort's characteristics to the current general population of the same age living in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region so as to extend the study's conclusions to the whole regional population.