An apparatus for determining the dimensions of at least one load moving across a work area by means of a carrier, preferably of at least one load which comprises at least one pallet handled by a carrier across said work area, said dimensions comprising length and width of said load and the maximum height of the load corresponding to the distance between the upper surface of the load and the floor, characterized in that it comprises: - upper detection means, which are positioned so as to frame said work area from the top and which are configured to acquire a sequence of images of the framed scene from the top and to acquire depth data of the elements present in said framed scene, said upper detection means are positioned higher than the maximum predictable height of the load handled by said carrier and configured to acquire a plurality of images from the top, in which at least the upper surface of said load is represented, and to acquire the distance between the means themselves and the upper surface of said load in real time, said upper detection means comprise at least one image and one depth sensor, - at least one control and processing unit, which is connected to said upper detection means and in which a software program is loaded configured for: - selecting at least one significant image for the purpose of determining the dimensions of said load from the sequence of images of the framed scene which were acquired by said detection means, - identifying the portion corresponding to the upper surface of said load in said image thus selected, - determining the length and the width of said load on the basis of the length and the width of the edges of the upper surface of the load detected in said portion thus identified, and determining the maximum height of the load on the basis of the depth data associated to the selected image and related to the distance between the upper surface of the load and the upper detection means, and on the basis of the known distance of such means respect to the floor, and further characterized in that said software program: - comprises a segmentation software module configured to recognize the portion which corresponds to said load in the selected image or all images acquired by said detection means, said segmentation software module being configured to recognize, in the selected image or all images acquired by said detection means, the portion of the image related to the carrier, so as to separate it from the portion related to said load. - upper detection means, which are positioned so as to frame said work area from the top and which are configured to acquire a sequence of images of the framed scene from the top and to acquire depth data of the elements present in said framed scene, said upper detection means are positioned higher than the maximum predictable height of the load handled by said carrier and configured to acquire a plurality of images from the top, in which at least the upper surface of said load is represented, and to acquire the distance between the means themselves and the upper surface of said load in real time, said upper detection means comprise at least one image and one depth sensor, - at least one control and processing unit, which is connected to said upper detection means and in which a software program is loaded configured for: - selecting at least one significant image for the purpose of determining the dimensions of said load from the sequence of images of the framed scene which were acquired by said detection means, - identifying the portion corresponding to the upper surface of said load in said image thus selected, - determining the length and the width of said load on the basis of the length and the width of the edges of the upper surface of the load detected in said portion thus identified, and determining the maximum height of the load on the basis of the depth data associated to the selected image and related to the distance between the upper surface of the load and the upper detection means, and on the basis of the known distance of such means respect to the floor, - selecting at least one significant image for the purpose of determining the dimensions of said load from the sequence of images of the framed scene which were acquired by said detection means, - identifying the portion corresponding to the upper surface of said load in said image thus selected, - determining the length and the width of said load on the basis of the length and the width of the edges of the upper surface of the load detected in said portion thus identified, and determining the maximum height of the load on the basis of the depth data associated to the selected image and related to the distance between the upper surface of the load and the upper detection means, and on the basis of the known distance of such means respect to the floor, - comprises a segmentation software module configured to recognize the portion which corresponds to said load in the selected image or all images acquired by said detection means, said segmentation software module being configured to recognize, in the selected image or all images acquired by said detection means, the portion of the image related to the carrier, so as to separate it from the portion related to said load.