In a clinical and epidemiological study used Fine's Pneumonia Severity Index to determine the appropriateness of the hospitalisation of patients with community acquired pneumonia in the Internal Medicine Department of a hospital in Northern Italy. Risk factors and antibiotic treatment were checked against recent international guidelines. The study shows that 20% of the admissions were to be not appropriate. The principal risk factors were old age and such the co-morbidities heart failure, chronic cerebral diseases and COPD. In the home setting macrolides are less used than the new fluoroquinolones respirators. In the hospitals arrangements, b-lactams are still highly used, perhaps because of the high percentage of elderly patients. The data currently available suggest that some new fluoroquinolones such as levofloxacin are quite effective, presenting a broad spectrum of action, high bioavailability and good tolerability. Sequential therapy with this antibiotic leads to shorter hospitalisation times.