Since 1992 “Cultural landscapes” of outstanding value are recognized by the Operational Guidelines of the World Heritage Convention and some rural landscapes are inscribed as in the World Heritage List. However, “ordinary” rural landscapes are present in several UNESCO Properties, also in “Natural” or “Mixed”. According to the approaches of the European Landscape Convention, regarding the importance of preserving both “ordinary” and “outstanding” landscapes, and of the ICOMOS-IFLA Principles regarding Rural Landscapes as Heritage, which affirms that rural landscapes are “one of the most common types of continuing cultural landscapes”, the overall protection of several UNESCO Properties can be reached by preserving the component related to “ordinary” rural systems, managed by local people with traditional methods. Their safeguarding becomes fundamental for the overall protection of the integrity of the UNESCO Properties. For this reason, the need of providing an updated overview regarding presence and state of preservation of rural landscapes in all UNESCO Properties – Cultural heritage (monuments, groups of buildings and sites), Natural heritage and Mixed Sites – brought to a wide survey aimed at supporting the assessment of the effectiveness of the Management Plans or National policies for the UNESCO Sites conservation. The research illustrates that rural systems, classified according the WRLI classification, are present in over the 30% of UNESCO Sites. The survey considers several kinds of rural systems (including gathering/hunting by indigenous people). The research considers: 1. Rural landscape systems strictly related to the Sites management from a functional point of view (agro-environmental, cultural, economic, …); 2. Rural landscapes related to the protected Property from a perceptive point of view, in particular visual, whose preservation is fundamental for the integrity of the Site itself; 3. Relict rural landscapes. This study is part of a wider research aimed at understanding the preservation level of rural heritage in UNESCO Properties.