Over the recent years many agricultural economists tried to carried out the typological classification of farms, in order to identify the structural and economic differences within the agricultural sector and propose strategic pathways that could improve current performance of farms. Taking into account some of the works done on the subject, this paper aims to analyze the Italian agriculture on the basis of data collected by INEA through the survey RICA. The main aim of the work is to show a possible use of the database RICA and the large set of information contained in it through the use of cluster analysis, which allows the definition of different types of farms that will be described in the work. In the proposed work have been analyzed some of the financial aspects in the database, such as the presence of subsidies granted to farms, the gross production and net income, which can better contribute to the identification of the real levels of economic size. However, the proposed method of analysis can also be extended to many of the other variables measured and the treatment to which it is in the present work only wants to be a starting point for further exploration. They are presented two scenarios for analysis, the first examines the dimensional characteristics, in terms of both physical and economic, comparing family-type businesses with those of a commercial nature; the second, however, consider the gender aspects of conducting business, thus distinguishing between farms led by men entrepreneurs from those conducted by women entrepreneurs.

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