The National Edition of Claudio Monteverdi's works has the aim of promoting and increasing musicological studies in Italy and in particular those on Italian music of the Renaissance and early Baroque, through the critical edition of the Opera omnia of Claudio Monteverdi's compositions.

It is the only complete work in the world by a composer entirely printed according to the scientific criteria of the critical edition.

The editorial project combines the rigidly philological criterion of a critical edition conducted according to the most up-to-date criteria of textual philology with the needs connected with practical performance: the edition serves not only the musicologist for scientific research purposes, but also the practical musician , not necessarily a musical philologist, who however needs to use a critical edition to give his performances and interpretations the most dignified and authoritative appearance. To achieve this objective, the contribution of particularly qualified scholars is necessary, both in the field of textual philology and in the field of Renaissance instrumental and vocal practice, with an eye to the needs of Claudio Monteverdi's own style.

To date, 18 volumes of the 20 planned have already been published, all accompanied by facsimiles and critical apparatus. The penultimate volume, currently being printed, L'incoronazione di Poppea, provides a typographical solution that includes the two primary sources (the MS. of Venice and that of Naples, both from the 17th century).

The national edition of Claudio Monteverdi's works will be completed with the publication (scheduled for 2025), again in a critical edition, of the three-act melodrama Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.