We present the main results of the sixth survey of the Italian screening programmes for colorectal cancer carried out by the National centre for screening monitoring (Osservatorio nazionale screening, ONS) on behalf of the Ministry of health. By the end of 2009, 98 programmes were active, of which 13 had been activated during the year, and 59% of Italians aged 50-69 years were residing in areas covered by organised screening programmes (theoretical extension). Eleven regions had their whole population covered. In the South of Italy and Islands, 4 new programmes were activated in 2009, with a theoretical extension of 22%. The majority of programmes employ the faecal occult blood test (FOBT), while some have adopted flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) once in a lifetime and FOBT for non-responders to FS. Overall, about 2,935,000 subjects were invited to undergo FOBT, 40% of those to be invited within the year. The adjusted attendance rate was 50% and approximately 1,426,000 subjects were screened. Large differences in the attendance rate were observed among regions, with 10% of programmes reporting values lower than 29%. Positivity rate of FOBT programmes was 5.6% at first screening (range: 2.5-12.4%) and 4.2% at repeat screening (range: 2.5-7.3%). The average attendance rate to total colonoscopy (TC) was 82.5%and in one region it was lower than 70%. Completion rate for total colonoscopy (TC) was 91.2%. Among the 631,460 subjects attending screening for the first time, the detection rate (DR) per 1,000 screened subjects was 2.4 for invasive cancer and 11.6 for advanced adenomas (AA - adenomas with a diameter ≥ 1 cm, with villous/tubulo-villous type or with high-grade dysplasia). As expected, the corresponding figures in the 824,562 subjects at repeat screening were lower (1.3‰ and 7.6‰ for invasive cancer and AA, respectively). The DR of cancer and adenomas increased with age and was higher among males. Many programmes reported some difficulties in guaranteeing TC in the appropriate time frame to FOBT+ subjects: in 16% of cases the waiting time was longer than two months. Nine programmes employed FS as the screening test: 65% of the target population (about 60,000 subjects) were invited and 9 511 subjects were screened, with an attendance rate of 24.3%. Overall, 81% of FS were classified as complete. Overall TC referral rate was 11% and the DR per 1,000 screened subjects was 2.6 and 43.7 for invasive cancer and AA, respectively.