  We report on new B, V and I CCD photometry of the globular cluster M54 that
was aimed at the study of its variable stars. With respect to the previous most
recent work on M54 we have nearly doubled the number of detected variable
stars: M54 can now be classified as intermediate in the Oosterhoff groups. The
metallicity distribution for the cluster and the Sgr dSph field is obtained
from the red giant stellar population, and for the variables.
