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tunny), fish industry, tufa quarrying and agriculture. Subsequently, as in many other Italian places, these
traditional professions have in recent times almost completely been abandoned and replaced, by tourism.
Agriculture is not the oldest economic activity of Favignana; in fact, it was imported in 1700 by one family of
farmers from Caltanisetta (Sicily) who, in a short time, started to cultivate fruit trees, vegetables, cereals and
cotton (Cataliotti 1924). In a few years, additional farms arose and the island became self-sufficient, except
for wheat, and later started to export lemons, tomatoes and cotton. The same author also cites the cultivation
of Indian figs, grapes, forage and saffron.

Levanzo

Before 1860 the few inhabitants of Levanzo still lived in grottoes and only after that date was the town built.
The local economy is very poor and precarious because of lack of any desire for progress. Today it is based
on unorganized fishing, an almost entirely abandoned agriculture and a promising tourism industry limited by
the lack of infrastructure. Formerly one third of Levanzo (mainly the inner part, more protected from winds)
was cultivated with grapes and cereals (mainly oat, barley and the durum wheat ‘marzullo’, ‘biancolella’,
‘tangarò’ and ‘russìa’). Nowadays, only some family gardens still exist and all the old cultivated grounds are
used for pasture for a few animals such as sheep, pigs and chickens. The main reasons for the almost total
abandonment of local farms are the complete lack of water and the emigration of young people.

Marettimo

Marettimo is a mountainous and uneven island characterized by Mesozoic rocks. Its natural vegetation is
very different from the two other main Egadi islands due to a longer period of geologic isolation (Brullo and
Marcenò 1982). The island derives its name from the wild time (Mare-timo–in Italian sea-thyme). The most
significant economic activity is fishing. Also, in the past, agriculture was practiced only on a small scale in the
few fields close to the town and around the most important springs of Ceuso and Testa di Acqua. The most
commonly grown crops were: broad beans, cauliflowers, spinaches, beets, barley, oat, wheat (almost
completely abandoned because of low yields), several fruit trees (e.g. grapes, figs, almonds, peaches, pears,
apples, olives, apricots, plums, cherries, carobs, Indian figs), manna (from Fraxinus ornus L. var. rotundifolia
Willd.), ‘sommacco’ (Rhus coriaria L.) for tanning, the ‘disa’ (Ampelodesmos mauritanicus [Poiret] Dur. et
Sch.) and agave (to obtain cords for binding) (Francini and Messeri 1956). Goats, pigs, chickens and few
donkeys were also bred. Nowadays, agriculture is completely neglected and only a modest stock-raising
activity (mainly goats) still survives.

Islands of Stagnone and neighbouring areas

The islands of Stagnone are a protected humid zone, and comprise the four islands of Isola Grande (1.19
km2), S. Pantaleo (0.47 km2), S. Maria (0.23 km2) and the very small islet of La Scuola (Figure 1). Today
the islands are uninhabited except for the two keeper families on S. Pantaleo. This last island holds the
remains of Motya, a Phoenician colony well studied by Whitaker (1921). This naturalist also introduced the
cultivation of ‘zabarinu’ (Agave sisalana Perrine) to the island to produce improved cords for boats, replacing
those made from hemp. Cultivation of that species of agave continued until 1955 when its fibre was replaced
by nylon (Fondazione Whitaker 1995). In 1900, about twenty landowners were still present on the island, but
their number was reduced to four by 1973. In the past, the agriculture of S. Pantaleo was characterized by
the use of drought-resistant varieties of tomato (‘pomodoro seccagno’ and ‘pizzutello’), wheat (‘russìa’), vines
(‘alberello’) and broad beans (‘fave di S. Pantaleo’).

Results and discussion

In all, 184 accessions were collected, of which 110 will be stored, in duplicate, in the genebanks of Bari and
Gatersleben, 88 in Saskatoon and 55 at DOFATA (Tab. 1). The sum of the accessions stored in each
genebank is not 184 because some species are commonly targeted by the four institutes while others not.

Egadi archipelago

Favignana

Recently (1986) a preliminary plant germplasm exploration on Favignana and Marettimo was conducted by
Hammer et al. (1987). In that mission, rural emigration was not very visible on Favignana, however strong
genetic erosion was observed in cereals and less so in vegetable landraces. During the present collecting
mission, an increased erosion of local crop germplasm was observed, most of all in garden crops. On
Favignana, 98 landraces, mainly of cereals, pulses and vegetables, were collected after a foundation study