Manganiferous cherts occurring in the subducted portion of the alpine belt (eclogite to blueschist facies metamorphism) present four types of structural settings: a) in stratigraphic coherency with the paleooceanic crust (ophiolites); b) in volcano-sedimentary sequences derived from disrupted ophiolite + chert + sediment associations; c) in reworked volcano-sedimentary sequences deposited on shelf or near the continent; d) in insufficiently studied terranes. In the literature, more than 100 occurences are mentioned, but standard petrographic data are available for only about 40. Modern geochemical, mineralogical, or petrological data are limited to the 6 following occurences: Haute Maurienne in France;Alagna, St. Marcel and the upper Valtournanche in Italy;Zermatt in Switzerland; and Andros in Greece. The mineralogy includes about 100 identified species; of these, 28 groups are reviewed. The analysis of phase compatibility points to three different assemblages: a) oxidized; b) neutral; c) reduced. Published estimates on the equilibrium condition of blueschist- facies alpine cherts vary widely. Such a scatter is due to the yet insufficient experimental knowledge on the Mn-Si-Al-O-OH system, including the nearly complete lack of determinations of the influence of other elements (e.g. Fe, Ca, As) on the reaction topology, and the still limited study of the natural phase relations in certain critical outcrops.