Magnetic fabric and paleomagnetic analyses on sedimentary sequences in several structural units in the Central Apennines ranging from upper Cretaceous pelagic carbonates to upper Miocene turbidites provide evidence for at least two distinct phases of rotation. The first counterclockwise (CCW) rotation is well recorded in Eocene-Oligocene sediments and does not affect the lower-middle Miocene sequences. The second phase is clearly recorded in lower-middle and upper Miocene sediments and shows both CCW and clockwise (CW) rotations in concordance with trends of the different thrust structures. We detected three domains characterized by different rotation patterns. The westernmost is the southern Sabina area, an arcuate thrust belt which underwent a CW rotation after the early Miocene. The second domain is the Latium-Abruzzi carbonate platform, where a CCW rotation occurred after the late Miocene. The third is the Marsica area that underwent a CW rotation after the late Miocene. The magnetic fabric analyses confirm the existence of these different structural provinces and show a strong correlation between the present-day strike of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility magnetic lineation and the rotations recorded in Miocene sediments. We attribute present-day variations in orientation of the compressional structures in the Central Apennines to differential rotations about vertical axes due to strike-slip faults and out of sequence thrust activity, rather than to a change in the stress field orientation. We also suggest that this deformation mechanism could be common in other collisional chains around the world. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995