A method for detecting the development of detonation phenomena in an internal combustion engine (1) which includes determining the variance (σi) of each combustion taken into account for a given cylinder (2) and in a given engine point as a function of the comparison between the detonation energy (μi) of each combustion taken into account and the self-learnt mean detonation energy (μi_m) for the given cylinder (2) and in the given engine point; calculating the maximum variance (σi_max) for a given cylinder (2) and in a given engine point with a reduction of the spark advance actuated in the given cylinder (2); and determining the development of detonation phenomena for each combustion taken into account as a function of the comparison between the maximum variance (σi_max) and the variance (σi) of each combustion taken into account for a given cylinder (2) and in a given engine point.