Summary. Ice core records are one of the most valuable tools for reconstruction of past climate variations. Paleotemperature reconstructions from ice cores are based on the empirical relationships existing between either D/H or 18O /16O and condensation temperatures. The most important aim of paleoclimatology, and in particular the ice core based climate records, is to provide quantitative reconstruction of past temperature variations that can be used to test the capabilities of climate models to simulate future climate changes. In the framework of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), two deep ice cores were drilled in the Antarctic ice sheet: one in the Dronning Maud Land Area (Kohnen Station), facing the Atlantic Ocean and the other at Dome C, facing the Indian Ocean. The seminar will focus on the EPICA Dome C ice core (75°06'04"S, 123°20'52"E, elevation 3233 m a.s.l., mean annual surface temperature, -54.5°C, accumulation rate 25.0 kg m-2 yr-1) which provides a climatic reconstruction of the last 800.000 years BP. Another part of the seminar will be devoted to the ITASE (International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition) project whose aim is to collect environmental data (climate, atmospheric composition, snow accumulation rate, impact of anthropogenic activity), from the last 200-1000 years, through the study of the upper layers of the Antarctic ice sheet.