Abstract. Low biostratigraphic resolution and lack of chronostratigraphic calibration hinder precise correlations between platform carbonates and coeval deep-water successions. These are the main obstacle when studying the record of Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events in carbonate platforms. In this paper carbon and strontium isotope stratigraphy are used to produce the first chronostratigraphic calibration of the Barremian-Aptian biostratigraphy of the Apenninic carbonate platform of southern Italy. According to this calibration, the segment of decreasing δ¹³C values, leading to the negative peak that is generally taken as the onset of the Selli event, starts a few metres above the last occurrence of Palorbitolina lenticularis and Voloshinoides murgensis. The following rise of δ¹³C values, corresponding to the interval of enhanced accumulation of organic matter in deep-water sections, ends just below the first acme of Salpingoporella dinarica, which roughly corresponds to the segment of peak δ¹³C values. The whole carbon isotope excursion associated with the oceanic anoxic event 1a is bracketed in the Apenninic carbonate platform between the last occurrence of Voloshinoides murgensis and the "Orbitolina level", characterized by the association of Mesorbitolina parva and Mesorbitolina texana. Since these bioevents have been widely recognized beyond the Apenninic platform, the calibration presented in this paper can be used to pinpoint the interval corresponding to the Early Aptian oceanic anoxic event in other carbonate platforms of central and southern Tethys. This calibration will be particularly useful to interpret the record of the Selli event in carbonate platform sections for which a reliable carbon isotope stratigraphy is not available.