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Research & development
42 m. More than half of the itineraries are of easy or
medium difficulty, so open to a wide range of divers and
snorkelers too.
Almost all underwater itineraries (22 out of a total of 28)
are of high nature conservation relevance, rating them
from good to excellent.
A total of 177 species (39 of algae and plants and
138 of animals) was recorded at Favignana, and 172
species (32 of algae and plants and 140 of animals)
was found at Marettimo and Levanzo islands. Among
the species found across the pathways, some of them
are important for conservation and protection (i.e.
Astrospartus mediterraneus), others are rare (i.e.
Anthipatella subpinnata) and with a high aesthetic value
(i.e. Paramuricea clavata, Savalia savaglia), while others
are invasive (i.e. Caulerpa racemosa).
The Website dedicated to underwater
itineraries at Egadi Islands’ MPA
The two illustrated books [8, 9] were published in a
website (http://egadi.santateresa.enea.it/) which was
built using Joomla!® software (http://www.joomla.org),
an open-source Content Management System (CMS)
FIGURE 10 The ENEA website (http://egadi.santateresa.enea.it/)
dedicated to underwater itineraries at Egadi Islands
74 EAI Energia, Ambiente e Innovazione 4/2015
written in PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) which
uses MySQL or PostgreSQL database. The website, in
addition to the content of the books, shows more photos
and videos for each underwater path. The videos can
be displayed both in low and in high resolution (1080p
FHD) on any mobile device (iPad, iPhone, Android &
Windows) (Figure 10).
The QR (Quick Response)
codes were printed in the two
illustrated books (Figure 11),
linking them to the website
http://egadi.santateresa.enea.
it/, thus enabling to connect
and display each underwater
itinerary on mobile accessories.
FIGURE 11 The QR code shown in the two illustrated books, linking
to the website and videos of underwater itineraries
Since its date of publication in 2013, the website, has
been visited by more than 50 thousand visitors,meaning
around 2000 visitors/month (with peaks during the
summer period) and indicating a high interest of the
underwater environment, having the possibility of
getting a closer knowledge of it.
Final considerations
The publication of two books dedicated to the
description and illustration of selected underwater
itineraries, for divers and snorkelers, at Favignana,
Marettimo and Levanzo Islands, and a dedicated
website with underwater videos around selected sites
of the archipelago, represent concrete actions by ENEA
for the promotion of sustainable tourism. The main tool
for the protection of the submerged environment is
knowledge. The two illustrated guides and the website,
based on easy and popular communication tools, aim
to disseminate knowledge on the marine environment,
which is often known by specialists only. These diving
and snorkeling itineraries of Favignana, Marettimo
and Levanzo islands highlight the beauty and special
features of underwater environments. Addressed to
locals, tourists and divers, and all people who love the