Central Mediterranean shelves show a large variability in morphology (width, slope, unevenness), stratigraphy (different thickness of depositional bodies resulting from the last climatic/eustatic cycle) and sedimentology (shelf-mud offshore of the main river mouths, bioclastic sediment in under-supplied areas) because of their geologically young age and complex geological setting. To better understand relative sea-level changes during the Holocene, people have to consider that its variations are the sum of eustatic, glacio-hydro-isostatic and tectonic factors. The first is global and time dependent, while the other two also vary according to location. In the central Mediterranean region, several volcanoes are present with ages and activity spans from a few millions of years ago to the present. Their character and genesis vary according to the complex geodynamics of the Mediterranean region; a large number of volcanoes are located along the eastern and southern Tyrrhenian Margin and in the Sicily Strait. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.