3D Spectroscopy of Nuclear and Extranuclear Regions of Nearby AGN

3D spectroscopy, is a modern method of investigation in observational astronomy, since it provides simultaneously a spectrum, under the same atmospheric and instrumental conditions, for each spatial element of a two-dimensional field of view. This gives a clear advantage with respect to classical sequential spectroscopic techniques, as long slit scans or Fabry-Perot interferometry, when studying extended sources. Therefore 3D spectroscopy is intrinsically suited for a large number of observing programs aimed to study extended objects. Among them, it is doubtless of great importance the study of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and in particular of the nuclear and circumnuclear regions of nearby Seyfert galaxies (z<0.1). In fact, it is in this circumnuclear environment that it is likely to find the gas and dust which may serve as fuel for the active nucleus. In close collaboration with the astronomers of the Special Astrophysical Observatory (SAO-RAS, Russia), we have carried out an observational campaign aimed to study in detail the nuclear and circumnuclear regions of about 30 nearby AGN, and therefore to strongly improve the statistical significance of the results about the features of these regions. The analysis and interpretation of this large amount of data will have a significant impact not only on the general understanding of the AGN nature and properties, but also on the Unification Theories which justify the differences observed in Type 1 and Type 2 AGN with simple effects of orientation of the AGN with respect to our line-of-sight.