Article

An evaluation of the role played by protected areas in the conservation of the wild relatives of cultivated plants in Ttaly and Sicily has been carried out, based mainly on bibliographic sources. Of the 163 species and subspecies represented in the whole Italian territory, 147 oceur inside protected areas. The figures for Sicily are 113 and 104, respectively. These data arc evaluated in relation to the present number and extension of protected arcas and with their possible increase.