Lidar measurements of the stratospheric aerosol burden over Frascati (42¿N-13¿E) in the period March '82-March '83 are reported. The arrival of the dust cloud generated by the El Chichon eruption was detected on late April 1982. Scattering ratios up to 10 were observed. The integrated backscatter between 12 and 28 km shows a fairly regular increasing trend over the whole period. The aerosol appeared at first stratified in thin layers; later, the entire region became fairly homogeneously filled.