Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the commonest sexually transmitted infection, and high-risk HPV types are associated with cervical carcinogenesis. This study investigated: the HPV type-specific prevalence in 970 women with an abnormal cytological diagnosis; and the association of HPV infection and cervical disease in a subset of 626 women with a histological diagnosis. HPV-DNA was researched by nested PCR/sequencing and the INNOLiPA HPV Genotyping assay. The data were analysed by the chi-square test (p<or=0.05 significant). Overall, the HPV prevalence was 37.7%; high-risk genotypes were found in 88.5% of women and multiple-type infections in 30.9% of the HPV-positive women. The commonest types were HPV-16 (8.2%), HPV-6 (5.0%), HPV-51 (4.2%) and HPV-53 (3.6%). Among the women with histological diagnosis, HPV was evident in 19.9% of those without lesions, 65.8% of those with low-grade lesions and 100% (p=0.002) of those with high-grade lesions. The commonest types were HPV-16 (in 14.7% low-grade and 42.8% high-grade lesions), HPV-31 (4.7% and 14.3%, respectively) and HPV-33 (2.0% and 14.3%, respectively). Two high-grade lesions contained exclusively one uncommon type, namely, HPV-83 and -85. This study confirmed the high prevalence of HPV infection and high-risk genotypes among women with cervical abnormalities living in Italy. These data may contribute to increasing the knowledge of HPV epidemiology and designing adequate vaccine strategies.