We develop a viscoelastic dynamic model to calculate the stress distribution in central Italy induced by different geodynamic processes likely active in the region: Africa-Eurasia convergence, Adriatic underthrusting/subduction and asthenospheric upwelling underneath Tuscany. Model results are compared with the hypocentral distribution of earthquakes and with the orientation of P and T axes available for the region. The first order characteristics of the seismotectonic observations in central Italy are: subcrustal seismicity, the pair extension-compression in Tuscany and in the outer Apennines, and the flexural behavior evident in long wavelength orientation of T axes. These features are reproduced by the combination of two processes: underthrusting of the Adriatic plate under the Apennines and asthenospheric upwelling underneath Tuscany. The comparison with available data does not give insights about slab pull as an ongoing process. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union