Giuseppe Bazan

The results of a research carried out on the vegetation of Cammarata, San Giovanni Gemini and Santo Stefano Quisquina area (Agrigento) are here analysed and mapped. In the map, scale 1:25000, 32 actual vegetation types are identified. Among them: 3 are referred to forest aspects; 2 belong to grazing vegetation; 1 is typical of cliffs; 1 is referred to scree vegetation; 1 belongs to clayey substrata vegetation; 2 are referred to watercourses vegetation; 3 concern aspects of vegetation relative to marshlands and to lacustrine areas; 19 types derives from man’s activity. The vascular flora of the territory amount to 954 specific taxa, 851 of which species, 88 subspecies and 15 varieties, belonging to 449 genera and 95 families. The richest families in taxa are Asteraceae (108), Poaceae (101), Fabaceae (90), Apiaceae (50), Brassicaceae (48) and Lamiaceae (44). Trifolium (22) is the genus more rich in species, follow Ophrys, (16), Medicago (14), Ranunculus (14) and Silene (13).
Furthermore, the maps of the degree of naturalness and of natural potential vegetation are included too.

abstract. – Planning hypothesis for a public " Australian " garden to Danisinni, in Palermo. – It presented a project aimed at achieving a public garden theme " Australia " to Danisinni, in Palermo. The idea is based mainly on the consideration that the image of Palermo, resulting from the urban climate and flora in its main public spaces and within private gardens; on the view that in Palermo has a garden to English G. B. F. Basile, the first and last example of a public garden designed as such from its inception; last but not least, the propulsive action of the Botanical garden, behind the idea of conceiving an urban design, structured by a system of theme parks, in order to affirm the cosmopolitan character of Palermo. The project of urban Danisinni depression shows an area, covering 12 hectares, which grows around the historic township of the same name that has always been characterized by a marked condition of marginality, combined with urban and social decay. The " Australian " , which symbolizes the species, more than any other in the city, became in time an emblem of urban beauty of the Sicilian capital.

Sommario Le tecniche di analisi spaziale e di telerilevamento costituiscono uno strumento molto utile per la conoscenza e lo studio del fenomeno dell'isola di calore urbano (indicata anche come UHI, dall'acronimo inglese Urban Heat Island). Tra le molteplici cause che portano alla generazione dell'evento, nel presente studio, sono state approfondite quelle relative alle caratteristiche fisiche delle superfici e alla presenza delle diverse coperture di uso del suolo. Mediante l'utilizzo delle tecniche di telerilevamento è stato possibile elaborare delle carte di uso del suolo, poi messe a confronto con una termografia che ha permesso di rappresentare la temperatura dei corpi in esame, al fine di quantificare le variazioni di temperatura dovute all'aumento delle distanze dalla vegetazione. In particolare si vuole indagare la presenza del fenomeno nella città di Palermo, attraverso l'analisi di porzioni di territorio con caratteristiche morfologiche differenti. Abstract The techniques of spatial analysis and Remote Sensing represent an useful tool for the knowledge and the study of the Urban Heat Island phenomenon (English acronym UHI). In this study, among the different causes that lead to the generation of the event, those regarding physical features of the surface and the presence of different land use/cover such as: the high cover of urban areas and the lack of green areas have been examined. The Remote Sensing techniques allow to create maps of the land use/cover, then, in order to estimate the different in temperature due to the distance to the vegetation, the temperature of the bodies already tested have been compared with a thermal map. In detail the aim of the research is to examine the presence of the phenomenon in Palermo, through the analysis of portion of soil with different morphological features.

The
results refer an ethnopharmacobotanical study carried out in the territories of Valderice, Busto Palizzolo, Custonaci and
San Vito Lo Capo, in the Trapani Mountains. There are 155 plants used in etno-medicine. The etnofarmacobotanical use
of spontaneous and cultivated taxa represents an ecosystem services provided by biodiversity in the traditional agricultural
systems of this area.

Tackling the Sicilian woody vegetation as case-study, this work aims to verify the relationship between the Rivas-Martínez’s bioclimatic units and head vegetation series in the Mediterranean. Following this approach, one macrobioclimate and twenty five bioclimatic types belts can be recognized in Sicily. By means of a geostatistical analysis on WorldClim data sets, cartographic models of the distribution range of each single bioclimatic unit were obtained and crossed with vegetation data, in order to develop a new regional spatial framework, integrating climatic and vegetation data. The fidelity of each vegetation unit to a given climatic range was then evaluated as percent distribution of the occupied surface within a given bioclimatic unit, while the accuracy of the WorldClim data sets was tested by using half of the spatial data of the processed vegetation units as independent variables. Our results suggest that : (1) any kind of numerical threshold used to define bioclimatic units is not effective a priori, but only in relation to the territory and to the spatial scale used to set the model; (2) being bioclimatic indices an empirical tool, the model can be trained and eventually adjusted when applied to different territories; (3) the fidelity of vegetation units to a given bioclimatic unit is highly variable; (4) the mechanistic pitfall that climatophilous vegetation has to be necessarily linked to a single bioclimatic unit should be avoided.

ABSTRACT Laurel woodlands in the Madonie mountains (Sicily) are characterized by the presence of Laurus nobilis, Rhamnus lojaconoi and Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris. The results of a phytosociological study are presented, and a new endemic association, Rhamno lojaconoi–Lauretum nobilis, is described. Present Mediterranean laurel communities are the result of an adaptive response by Tertiary laurel forest to the peculiar microclimatic conditions that characterize the refugia where they persist. These refugia have been recently considered as a priority habitat under the Directive 92/43/EEC, and their plant communities are very vulnerable. Protection measures of the studied laurel populations are necessary, with particular reference to the bulking up of R. lojaconoi through in situ and ex situ propagation. A multivariate analysis of 63 relevés from all the Sicilian laurel communities described so far and additional 65 relevés from all over southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin bears out the autonomy of the new association, showing at the same time some oristic afnities between Sicilian, southern Italian, Spanish and Iberian associations. Their syntaxonomic treatment is discussed.

Within the project “Harvesting Memories: Ecology and Archaeology of Monti Sicani landscapes” – supported by Bona Furtuna LLC – this paper aims to reconstruct human-environment relationship in the inland of Central-Western Sicily during the Early Middle Ages through a comparative analysis between archaeological data and vegetation dynamics in current landscape (University of Palermo). The environmental archaeological record (faunal remains and anthracological/ carpological finds) has been analysed from different layers of the rural settlement (Contrada Castro, Corleone, Palermo) – excavated in 2017, 2018 and 2019 (Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Palermo) – mainly occupied during Byzantine age and Islamic period (8th-11th c. AD). The first examination of charcoals provided the identification of the plant species selected and exploited in the surrounding landscape of the site for each chronological phase. The archaeobotanical data indicates punctual and qualitative picture on the historical vegetation of this area. The phytosociological data allowed the spatial arrangements of archaeobotanical finds within plant communities and its ecological distribution. The archaeozoological data added more information on the reconstruction of rural economy, husbandry management and its ecological environment. An integrated comparison between the structure and composition of current phytocoenoses with archaeobotanical and archaeozoological data allowed to interpret the dynamics of interaction between a rural community and its environment.

The project “Harvesting Memories: Ecology and Archaeology of Monti Sicani landscapes” aims to analyse the long-term relationship of landscape dynamics and settlement patterns in a Mediterranean inland of Central-Western Sicily. The project combined different interdisciplinary approaches of vegetation science, landscape ecology, archaeobotany, history and archaeology in order to diachronically understand and reconstruct the human-society-environment interactions.
From 2017 to 2019 a new rural settlement has been investigated in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo). The excavation in Contrada Castro (1) showed a clear case of long-term occupation of a hill-top site during Late Archaic/Classical age (6th-5th c. BC) and the Byzantine and Islamic period (7th-11th c. AD).
Soils from the archaeological excavation were sampled to obtain evidences about paleo-vegetation and vegetal paleo-diet. Archaeobotanical data (seeds and charcoal remains) represent an informative source in human-environmental dynamics to collect specific data on a small scale in terms of chronology and topography (2). Furthermore, presence of edible plants as cereals, pulses and fruit characterize their use as economical resources. Unfortunately, archaeobotanical analyses from archaeological sites in Sicily are still not very common (4).
For the reconstruction of the paleo-environment and the use of woody resources from the three chronological phases of the site, a total of 239 liters of soils were analysed.
Taxonomical identification was made by optical microscopy through the comparison with the reference collection and specific atlases (4). More than 400 wood charcoals were observed, about 80% of them was identified. Thanks to comparisons with the current vegetation, so far 9 species have been identified: Quercus ilex L., Quercus cfr. pubescens Willd., Pistacia terebinthus L., Rhamnus alaternus L., Fraxinus ornus L., Ulmus minor Mill. subsp. canescens (Melville) Browicz & Ziel., Acer campestre L., Ostrya carpinifolia Scop., Populus nigra L. Identification reached the detail of genus or family in 5 cases, Phillyrea sp., Sorbus sp., Pyrus sp. and maybe one species belonging to the family of Moraceae.
The woody vegetation is therefore represented by evergreen oaks, semi- and deciduous oaks, maples, ash trees, associated with riparian species such as elm, poplar and hornbeam, and shrub species such as backthorn, terebinth, sorb and plum.
Cultivated species are mostly not represented. Despite the widespread presence of the evergreen oaks in the whole record, differences between the three chronological phases were identified, highlighting a selective use of the wild species present in the area and a specific collection of wood for the hearths. Archaeological layers from last phase of occupation of the site are characterised by the presence of pulses and cereal kernels, notably concentrated in some hearths. Their analyses allows to identify staple sources for the village and agricultural techniques in the area.

References
1) A. Castrorao Barba, R. Miccichè, F. Pisciotta, P. Marino, G. Bazan, C. Aleo Nero, S. Vassallo (2018) The Journal of Fasti Online, 1-12.
2) C.A. Hastorf, V.F. Popper (1988) Chicago. ISBN: 978022631893.
3) BRAIN Network (2018) http://brainplants.successoterra.net/sites.html.
4) D.M Pearsall. (2009), Walnut Creek. ISBN-10: 1598744720.

Aknowledgements

We express our gratitude to Bona Furtuna LLC who entirely supported this research

The “Harvesting Memories” project focuses on the study of the long-term transformation of the historical landscape in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily (Castro Valley and Mt. Barraù, Corleone – Palermo). In order to achieve a global comprehension of the landscape, which we consider to be a diachronic result of the interaction between humans and their surrounding environment, our main research threads focus on socio-historical and environmental transformation. To this end we are applying an holistic approach, resulting from the cross-pollination of different methodologies: 1) Archaeological research: field survey and pottery studies allow the reconstruction of the historical settlement patterns from Prehistory to the Modern Age; 2) Archival research: the study of Late Medieval and Modern written sources (contracts, wills, chronicles) produces direct and relevant insights on the past land uses; 3) Historical cartography: ancient topographic maps and land registries, treated both from a qualitative and quantitative approach, are a rich source of information on the evolution of the layout of rural districts and their uses; 4) Potential Land Evaluation: this methodology synthesizes the data produced from the above mentioned methodologies and, given a set of known technological variables and potential uses, interpolates landscape models, together with its suitability and potential uses.

The project “Harvesting Memories” is focused on the analysis of the long-term transformation of the cultural landscape in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily (Castro Valley and Mt. Barraù, Corleone – Palermo).
In order to quickly outline the history of the territory with an acceptable precision, our survey aimed at covering and sampling as much surface as possible, according to time and human resources available. To reach this goal, in the research design we opted for qualitative surveys. The choice of the fields to be surveyed was based on GIS analysis — our predictive model took in consideration slope, water sources and presence of points with high visibility in the landscape —, that helped us to forecast the likelihood of finding archaeological sites in each part of the study area.
the Protohistory (Middle Copper Age/Aeneolithic and Bronze Age) and the Middle Ages (10th–12th c. AD) and 4 areas with productive structures related to the Modern Age pastoral activities.
The final goal of this analysis is to elucidate the relationships between landscape ecological processes and history of land-use change.

Following a first occupation dated to the 6th-5th c. BC, the site was re-occupied between the Byzantine and Islamic period (7th-11th c. AD). Under the 10th-11th c. AD structures, a large square building has been uncovered, that shows two subsequent phases dated from the mid-8th c. AD to the 9th c. AD. The structures belonging to the first phase of the building have revealed traces of pottery production, as indicated by the recovery of a two chambered kiln as well as the presence of several ceramic wastes.This paper presents the material evidence connected to this recently unearthed building and discusses its implication in terms of craft production in a rural area during the transition from the Byzantine to the early Islamic period. This analysis enables us to reassess the existing chrono-typology for specific ceramic vessels, such as painted amphorae- in particular the ones showing band and sinusoidal decoration-and cooking wares recovered from this building. Moreover, the possibility to study specific pottery types in association with both a sound stratigraphic sequence –the kiln lies under the 10th-11th c. AD structures and new radiocarbon data acquired from several key contexts, provides important insights into the material culture of a rural community living in the inland of Sicily between the 8th and 9th c. AD. In addition, we will also introduce the preliminary outcomes of the geological prospection carried out to identify the raw materials suitable for potting within the area, combined with the petrographic analysis of modern clay samples. Such integrated approach enables us to gain a better understanding on ceramic craft-technology, clay procurement strategies and more broadly the consumption of household pottery in the countryside of western Sicily between the late Byzantine period and the early Islamic age, adding to our knowledge of a crucial as well as “dark” period in the history of Early Medieval Sicily.

Afterlife of hill-top settlements in Sicily between Antiquity and the Middle Ages: the excavation in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo), by
Dr. Angelo Castrorao Barba (University of Palermo); Roberto Miccichè (University of Palermo); Filippo Pisciotta (University of Palermo); Giuseppe Bazan (University of Palermo); Carla Aleo Nero (Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Palermo); Stefano Vassallo (Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Palermo); Pasquale Marino (Bona Furtuna LLC); Steve Luczo (Bona Furtuna LLC).

The development of hill-top sites or sites in at locations that are optimal for controlling valleys and defendable is a phenomenon that characterised many parts of Sicily between the archaic and the Hellenistic periods. The discovery of a new site in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo) paves the way for new knowledge of the dynamics of settlement patterns in Sicilian rural landscapes in a long-term perspective. The first period of occupation of the elevated plateau of Contrada Castro is attested by the late archaic period probably related to the presence of a rural community linked to the exploitation of agro-pastoral resources. A shift in settlement pattern with the rise of agglomerated hill-top settlements during the Early Middle Ages is a global phenomenon that is also documented in the Sicilian landscape. The excavation in Contrada Castro, carried out with in the “Harvesting Memories” focused on Ecology and Archaeology of Sicani Mountains landscapes, showed a clear case of re-establishment of an ancient site located in hilly position between Byzantine, Islamic and Norman periods (7th – 12th c. CE). The site of Contrada Castro could reflect the dynamics of a rise in hill-top settlement in changed socio-economic contexts that marked a shift compared to the Roman villa system and the later phase characterised by the emergence of large villages/agro-towns that were probably related to Church estates. The investigation of this new rural site provided insight into longue durée patterns at hilltop rural settlements in Sicily between Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The “Harvesting Memories” project focuses on the study of long-term landscape and settlement patterns change – in Sicani Mountains rural district (central-western Sicily) – as a result of diachronic interactions between socio-economic human factors and environmental and ecological trends. A new hilltop site has been identified during field survey in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo). The settlement pattern linked to the selection of reliefs and hills as places for controlling rural districts seems to have changed in the Roman age, when it was characterized by intensive occupation of low-lying lands associated with potential agricultural productivity and proximity to road networks. A shift in settlement pattern with the rise of agglomerated hill-top settlements during the Early Middle Ages is a global phenomenon also occurred in Sicily. This paper aims to show the long-term sequence of the excavation (started in spring 2017) in the site of Contrada Castro. The main evidences date back to the Middle Ages with dry-stone structures related to the Islamic and Norman age (9th-12th c. AD) resettling a place already occupied during Byzantine period (infant burial) and also by a Late Archaic/Classical indigenous settlement (6th-5th c. BC). The investigation of this new rural site provided insight into longue durée patterns at hilltop rural settlements in Sicily between Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Simplification of agricultural systems, farmland abandonment, uncontrolled urbanization, together with global scale drivers, determine fast and unpredictable phenomena of hydrogeological instability, biodiversity decline and identity loss. Men should hence promote socioeconomic resilience and place identity, using biocultural landscapes as a resource. These landscapes are the outcome of the historical relationship between man and nature, resulting from complex interactions between biodiversity (at all levels, including species richness, ecosystem and biotope diversity) and cultural diversity, including material and immaterial aspects (architectural heritage, traditions, customs, local traditional agricultural practices, dialectal culture). Traditional water use is one of the main defining factors of traditional agricultural landscapes, characterized by significantly multiplied and enhanced functions and by the highest degree of biocultural diversity. The integrity of traditional agricultural landscapes is an indicator of environmental sustainability, socioeconomic growth and habitat resilience. Land management and planning should promote the multi-functionality of biocultural landscapes through new interdisciplinary frameworks and innovative strategies, aimed at landscape conservation, enhancement and creative management.

The work presents a biocultural diversity interpretation of traditional Mediterranean agricultural
landscapes. These landscapes are the result of complex interactions between biodiversity (at all levels,
including species richness, ecosystem and biotope diversity) and cultural diversity, including material
and immaterial aspects (architectural heritage, traditions, customs, local traditional agricultural
practices, dialectal culture, etc.). The main theme is the traditional use of water related to traditional
hydraulic systems, which in some areas date back to medieval times. Traditional agricultural
landscapes grant a variety of ecosystem services and play a key role in biodiversity conservation. They
support the persistence of a rich heritage of cultivated plant varieties and, at the same time,
determine an ecosystem infrastructure that preserves wild animal and plant biodiversity.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/land/special_issues/resilience_historical_landscapes

Over the last decade, the concept of resilience has established itself in different fields as a key phenomenon in the analysis of landscapes in their long-term dynamics. In fact, the landscape is continually subject to interactions between anthropogenic and natural dynamics, in which different reactions and adaptations to changes over time are produced. The resilience of historical landscapes has, therefore, been an object of interdisciplinary study between natural sciences and humanities. As we hope to demonstrate in this volume, the phenomena of resilience cannot be understood without the union of its driving forces, both anthropogenic and natural/environmental.

The aim of this Special Issue is to analyze different aspects of the resilience of historical landscapes according to multi and interdisciplinary approaches between science and humanities. How is the resilience of a landscape defined over time? How have ecological and environmental dynamics reacted to anthropogenic changes? What reaction and adaptation did human societies have in dealing with environmental changes? How can a “resilient landscape” be analyzed during historical periods of transition and change?

These general questions will be addressed in the following topics.

Resilience in land cover and vegetation changes in historical landscapes;
Dynamics of the adaptive cycle to historical changes in settlement models;
Reaction to climate and environmental changes;
Change vs. long duration in the dynamics of formation of historical landscapes;
Human–environment interactions in ages of transition.
Papers with interdisciplinary approaches between science (landscape ecology, environmental and vegetation sciences, and geomorphology) and humanities (history, archaeology, and human geography) and with a diachronic/historical dimension (from the prehistory to pre-industrial age) concerning the resilience of landscapes are strongly encouraged for submission.

Dr. Angelo Castrorao Barba
Dr. Pilar Diarte-Blasco
Dr. Manuel Castro-Priego
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Bazan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

resilience
historical ecology
landscape archaeology
vegetation history
paleoecology and archaeobotany
human geography and environmental anthropology
world/global history
long-term human–environment interactions
landscape changes
geospatial (GIS) analyses

10th International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE) World Congress University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, 1-5 July 2019
Call for Abstracts: deadline 25 February 2019, http://www.iale2019.unimib.it/program/abstracts-submission/
Symposium 46:Landscape trajectories during the long Anthropocene: dialogues between ecology and archaeology
Organizers: Giuseppe Bazan & Angelo Castrorao Barba

From the micro to the global scale, the human impact is the real protagonist of the Anthropocene across the long-term timescale. It is impossible to look at the environment and the landscape without considering the long processes of anthropic activities. The driving forces in landscape change are strongly related to historical dynamics. Changes in political regimes, social structures, economic modes of productions, cultural and religious influences – all the traditional domain of the Humanities – are phenomena entangled with many ecological and environmental factors. Understanding landscapes in the Anthropocene is impossible today without a cross-disciplinary approach. During the last few decades, the discipline of Archaeology has especially increased its focus on human-environment interactions and landscape formative-processes. Landscape trajectories can be investigated through two different points of view. Vanished landscapes are the main object of study for many " archaeologies " (landscape archaeology; environmental archaeology; geoarchaeology) and " paleo " disciplines (paleoecology; paleoclimatology; paleogeography) that aim to reconstruct the non-visible past. The second approach focuses on the contemporary landscape as a palimpsest formed by various historical layers in which evidence of the relationship between the human footprint and ecological patterns can be detected. Nevertheless, both of these approaches, one based on " hidden traces " and the other on current layered contexts, share a concept of Landscape as a complex and heterogeneous mosaic of spaces where it is possible to read both the temporal dynamics (historical stratification) and the specific characteristics of individual patches situated in various ecotopes, a series of hierarchical relationships between climatic conditions, substrates, landforms, soils, vegetation and human activities. The main aim in this session is to combine and stimulate an interdisciplinary debate between the (many) Archaeologies, Landscape Ecology and Environmental Studies in order to address the following issues across different regions all over the world. The following themes will be explored: a) Methods for multidisciplinary analysis of formation, change, abandonment and resilience in rural landscapes (from Prehistory to the Present day); b) Archaeology as an " ecological " discipline; c) Historical perspectives of relationships between man and plants (domestication, introduction, extinction, cultivation, exploitation and disturbance of natural vegetation) in forming the plant landscape; d) Anthropocene landscapes: evaluating the human impact on the landscape from historical and ecological perspectives. Contributions regarding different geographical areas and focusing on the session's key themes from Archaeological and/or Ecological disciplines will be strongly encouraged (single excavations contextualised in a wider territorial context; regional and micro-regional data from survey and landscape archaeology projects) as well as broader overviews. The papers in this session will offer a methodological dialogue between historical and archaeological issues and landscape ecology.

Studies on Medieval Sicily are currently renewed by research undertaken by different teams from various regions of Europe (Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, Poland). Post-roman Sicily is a sort of palimpsest of Mediterranean dynamics in which continuity, transformation, innovation and resilience were connected to a wider frame of political change: role in the Byzantine State, Islamic conquest, Norman domain and the emergence of Swabian.
The challenge of approaching Medieval Sicily with this proposal is to analyse and interpret the materiality of these many 'transitions' on archaeological records.
This session aims to show the main results of those ongoing archaeological and historical works at medieval suburbia and rural sites of Sicily. It is thus intended to update traditional views regarding the evolution of this territory from Late Antique to the Middle Ages by bringing into consideration new data recovered from archaeological excavations undertaken in several sites across Sicily, new information coming from the review of written accounts and new reflections from contrasting both material and documentary records.
In particular, the session will address the following topics:
- Dynamics of rural settlement patterns.
- Suburbium between countryside and city.
- Landscape of power: churches, monasteries and palaces.
- Material culture and economic trajectories beyond the cities.
This session will be therefore a necessary space of discussion between the different European scholars currently engaged in the study of Medieval Sicily in order to compare data, results, methods and new theories.

The city of Palermo and its surrounding valley is an important historic irrigated landscape, characterized by underground hydraulic structures and by a long tradition of irrigation sys- tems inherited from the Islamic presence in Sicily throughout the Middle Ages (9th-11th century). The Islamic “green revolution” radically innovated the irrigation systems of Sicily and thus also lead to the introduction and diffusion of new irrigated crops. In Palermo’s sub- urban areas, 63 hydraulic infrastructure and drainage tunnel sites have been surveyed and classified into 4 hydraulic categories: 1) qanāts; 2) blind qanāts; 3) connected wells; 4) emerging drainage galleries. These structures, notwithstanding some doubts concerning their exact dating, seem to be typical of the Medieval period. The Norman Favara / Maredolce castle and park (12th century) is a particularly interesting case study in evalu- ating the role of Islamic heritage in Palermo valley water management and is an extraordi- nary example of how Islamic hydraulic engineering was used to demonstrate royal power. Keywords: historical water systems, hydrogeology, historical landscape ecology, Islamic archaeology, medieval Sicily
La città di Palermo e la sua valle circostante sono un importante paesaggio storico irriguo, caratterizzato da strutture idrauliche sotterranee e da una lunga tradizione di sistemi di irrigazione ereditati dalla presenza islamica in Sicilia nel medioevo (IX-XI secolo). La “rivo- luzione verde” islamica ha radicalmente innovato i sistemi di irrigazione siciliani e questo portò all’introduzione e alla diffusione di nuove specie coltivate. Nell’area suburbana di Pa- lermo sono stati indagati 63 infrastrutture idrauliche e tunnel di scolo, classificati in 4 ca- tegorie: 1) qanāts; 2) qanāts ciechi; 3) pozzi collegati; 4) gallerie di scolo emergenti. Que- ste strutture, nonostante alcuni dubbi circa la loro esatta datazione, sembra siano tipici del periodo medievale. Il castello normanno di Favara / Maredolce e il suo parco (XII secolo) è un interessante caso studio per valutare il ruolo del patrimonio islamico nella gestione dell’acqua nella valle palermitana ed è uno straordinario esempio di come l’ingegneria idrau- lica islamica fosse usata per dimostrare il potere reale.
Parole chiave: sistemi idraulici storici, idro-geologia, ecologia del paesaggi storici, archeo- logia islamica, Sicilia medievale

This policy brief summarises the MEMOLA project findings regarding the role agrobiodiversity has in reactivating Mediterranean agricultural systems. Traditional varieties are the best ambassadors of the landscape in which they are cultivated. Preserving them by intergenerational knowledge transfer may be a way to reactivate traditional agroecosystems creative cycles and to improve social and cultural resiliency. The brief also presents policy development recommendations to establish mechanisms and criteria to define its values and for their protection.