  The general form of N=2 supergravity coupled to an arbitrary number of vector
multiplets and hypermultiplets, with a generic gauging of the scalar manifold
isometries is given. This extends the results already available in the
literature in that we use a coordinate independent and manifestly symplectic
covariant formalism which allows to cover theories difficult to formulate
within superspace or tensor calculus approach. We provide the complete
lagrangian and supersymmetry variations with all fermionic terms, and the form
of the scalar potential for arbitrary quaternionic manifolds and special
geometry, not necessarily in special coordinates. Our results can be used to
explore properties of theories admitting $N=2$ supergravity as low energy
limit.
