High voltage overhead power lines are one of the infrastructure with a major impact on landscape quality. As shown by some studies, it is sufficient that a pylon occupies even a modest fraction of a view to cause a marked decline in the aesthetic quality of the landscape. Few studies have tried to make a monetary quantification of the landscape damage caused by high voltage power lines. Those few studies focused their attention on urban areas. In this study, by means of a discrete choice experiment, the willingness to pay of the Italian population to eliminate the landscape impact of high voltage power lines has been estimated for the entire national territory with reference to four different landscape contexts (protected mountain and hill areas, protected plain and coastal areas, other non protected hill and mountain areas, other non protected plain areas). The results obtained have demonstrated that the willingness to pay per kilometre of power line eliminated is higher in the mountain and hill natural parks than in the other areas considered. The research shows that the social benefit of burying high voltage power lines would exceed the costs only in limited areas of the country.