Method for managing an ironing apparatus comprising a steam iron equipped with a heating plate associated with heating means, and with a steam chamber; - a base unit connected to said iron by means of a connection pipe and comprising a boiler equipped with heating means for generating steam, a tank for containing water, first water feed means for feeding water from the tank to the boiler, at least one valve device, disposed downstream of the boiler and selectively activatable to allow steam to be fed toward said steam chamber and second water feed means, configured to feed water from said tank toward said steam chamber, wherein said method provides to: - receive an indication on an ironing mode functioning or a cleaning mode, selected by a user by means of a user interface; - determine, on the basis of the indication received, and of predefined functioning tables, the functioning parameters of the ironing apparatus and when an ironing mode is selected, whether it corresponds to a "cold", "hot" or "hybrid" functioning of the ironing apparatus; - as a function of the functioning parameters determined, selectively activate, by means of a control and command unit, one or more of either the heating means (18, 21) associated with the iron or the boiler, or first or second water feed means (24, 28) or the valve device, so as to send into the steam chamber only steam, in order to make said ironing apparatus function as an ironing apparatus only of the "hot" type, or a mixture of water and steam, in order to make said ironing apparatus function as a "hybrid" ironing apparatus, or only water at room temperature, in order to make said ironing apparatus function as an ironing apparatus only of the "cold" type so as to optimize the overall consumption of the apparatus as a function of the temperature and quantity of steam required by the selected ironing mode, wherein when a cleaning mode is selected, the method provides to introduce into the steam chamber of the plate both cold water coming from said tank and fed by the second water feed means, and also hot water and/or steam coming from said boiler, so as to exploit an alternation of thermal cycles and remove the possible limescale encrustations in said steam chamber. - a base unit connected to said iron by means of a connection pipe and comprising a boiler equipped with heating means for generating steam, a tank for containing water, first water feed means for feeding water from the tank to the boiler, at least one valve device, disposed downstream of the boiler and selectively activatable to allow steam to be fed toward said steam chamber and second water feed means, configured to feed water from said tank toward said steam chamber, wherein said method provides to: - receive an indication on an ironing mode functioning or a cleaning mode, selected by a user by means of a user interface; - determine, on the basis of the indication received, and of predefined functioning tables, the functioning parameters of the ironing apparatus and when an ironing mode is selected, whether it corresponds to a "cold", "hot" or "hybrid" functioning of the ironing apparatus; - as a function of the functioning parameters determined, selectively activate, by means of a control and command unit, one or more of either the heating means (18, 21) associated with the iron or the boiler, or first or second water feed means (24, 28) or the valve device, so as to send into the steam chamber only steam, in order to make said ironing apparatus function as an ironing apparatus only of the "hot" type, or a mixture of water and steam, in order to make said ironing apparatus function as a "hybrid" ironing apparatus, or only water at room temperature, in order to make said ironing apparatus function as an ironing apparatus only of the "cold" type so as to optimize the overall consumption of the apparatus as a function of the temperature and quantity of steam required by the selected ironing mode, wherein when a cleaning mode is selected, the method provides to introduce into the steam chamber of the plate both cold water coming from said tank and fed by the second water feed means, and also hot water and/or steam coming from said boiler, so as to exploit an alternation of thermal cycles and remove the possible limescale encrustations in said steam chamber.