Sicily Research Articles

Food Habits of the Javelin Sand Boa Eryx jaculus (Linnaeus 1758; Serpentes, Erycidae) in Sicily, Italy

The Javelin Sand Boa, Eryx jaculus, is reported to be a predator of mammals, lizards and their eggs, and occasionally of birds and invertebrates, but data on its diet are scarce and fragmentary. Here we describe some aspects of the feeding behavior of E. jaculus on the Mediterranean island of Sicily. A total of 132 individual snakes were examined. Prey remains were found in 43% of them, both in their feces (82.5%) and gut contents (17.5%). The number of snakes observed and their feeding rate decreased in August, probably as a result of the relatively higher temperatures. Feeding rate increases were observed in adult females in September, perhaps to enhance body reserves before hibernation. The overall prey spectrum is dominated by small mammals, with a frequency of occurrence of 71.4%, but also consisted of lizard eggs (30.2%) and lizards (7.9%). Lizards seem to be occasional prey, and our frequent detection of ingested autotomized tails suggests E. jaculus has low efficiency as a saurian predator. We observed a relationship between prey type and snout–vent length of the snakes. Lizard eggs are most frequently eaten by smaller snakes, which could be linked to gape size ontogenetic variation. We found differences in the prey spectrum between sexes and age classes. Our results indicate that juveniles, adult males, and females seem to adopt different foraging strategies. Females probably adopt ambush predation on small mammals, while juveniles are active foragers of lizard eggs. Adult males appear to be slightly more versatile predators, consuming both types of prey, probably because of their high mobility rates during the mating period.

Fracture stratigraphy and oil first migration in Triassic shales, Favignana Island, western Sicily, Italy

This study aims at evaluating the control exerted by fracture stratigraphy and diagenetic processes on oil first migration through an outcropping, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession. The present work included results of sedimentological, paleontological, mineralogical, petrographic, structural, and microstructural analyses carried out on organic-rich shales exposed at the Favignana Island of Sicily, Italy. The analyses focus on Upper Triassic yellowish siltstones and greyish laminated dolomitic limestones, which form a 10's of m-thick succession exposed along the westernmost portion of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt. The studied succession deposited in a coastal lagoon associated to a wide carbonate platform, in which anoxic bottom conditions allowed the preservation of the organic matter forming catagenetic patches and veins/fractures infill. In fact, two orthogonal fracture sets perpendicular to bedding are pervaded by organic matter. They are hence interpreted as structural elements that affected the paleofluid circulation and oil migration within the Triassic source rock. These two orthogonal sets form the background fracture network predating the formation of three other sets infilled mainly with calcite cements. The latest fracture set also includes barite cements implying a hydrothermal origin (<200 °C), as supported by the R1 and R3 mixed-layer Illite-Smectite (I–S) stacking. Data are consistent with a burial depth of the sedimentary succession of about 3 ± 0.5 km. In light of these considerations, the study area might represent an outcropping stratigraphic and structural analogue of the source rocks buried in the offshore of western Sicily and northern Tunisia.

Film Tourism in South-Eastern Sicily: In the Footsteps of Inspector Montalbano

This study focuses on film tourism on the island of Sicily, in the context of the popular television series, Montalbano. Since the series began, there have been increases in tourist flows in the towns most directly interested. Although it is impossible to say that the Montalbano series is directly responsible for these phenomena, it has succeeded in bringing visibility to the territories and landscapes of the area. In the tourist sector, there are now abundant possibilities for fans to participate in movie tours. The apparent success of the series and its tourist spin-offs can be problematised, therefore, since it raises questions about authenticity from the perspective of the subjectivity of the tourists. Authenticity, for a tourist on a ‘Montalbano tour’, relates more to the desire to explore a virtual reality than to the traditional attractions of the places. The issue of authenticity has contrasting implications for the areas involved. The location of ‘Vigata’, a fictional creation of author Andrea Camilleri, has become an issue, as towns compete for a share of the rapidly evolving tourist market, engaging in attempts to demonstrate authentic traces of the fictional context. The paper explores these issues from an interdisciplinary, mixed methods perspective that combines insights from the fields of Economics and Linguistics. Data are analysed in terms of the multimodal and discourse-pragmatic dimensions of the interpretation of image-texts. Keywords: Montalbano, film tourism, framing, multimodality, destination branding

The influence of the arabic conquests on a linguistic situation in Sicily

This article is devoted to the study of the Italian language vocabulary, as well as its enrichment with Arabic borrowings under the influence of various historical events in the course of the historical development of the island of Sicily. The authors describe the main historical events that influenced the enrichment of the lexical composition of the Italian language with Arabic borrowings. The history of the Mediterranean is saturated with conflicts, meetings, migrations. For centuries, the region of southern Italy has been the center of various cultures and peoples, which greatly influenced the development of art and architecture as well as vocabulary of the people living in this territory. The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze the lexemes of Arabic origin present in the Italian language and Sicilian dialects. The lexemes are referred to "arabisms" that emerged during the period of Arab domination in the southern Italy and under the influence of the Arabic language. Within the scope the authors consider in detail the most important historical events that took place in certain periods in the region. In addition, the authors overview the semantic fields in which there are arabisms and the areas they are related, e.g. toponymy, material culture, agriculture, manufacturing, food, etc. Also the geography of the region and the linguistic contacts are regarded due to the conquests of the Arabs in Sicily.

Trends in Vessel Atmospheric Emissions in the Central Mediterranean over the Last 10 Years and during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Giordan Lighthouse, located on the island of Gozo in the Malta-Sicily Channel within the central Mediterranean region, is ideally located to study the primary sources of atmospheric pollution. A total of 10 years of data have been accumulated from the reactive gas and greenhouse gas detectors and the aerosol analyzers found at this Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) regional station. The data has been evaluated, resulting in trends in emissions from shipping recorded within the same region coming to the fore. The other source of emissions that was evident within the recorded data originated from Mt. Etna, located on the island of Sicily and representing the highest active volcano in Europe. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of ship emissions on trace gases and aerosol background measurements at Giordan Lighthouse, including the putative influence of COVID-19 on the same emissions. The model used to evaluate ship emissions was the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM). From trace gas measurements at Giordan Lighthouse, a slowly decreasing trend in sulfur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions was noted. To better understand the air quality results obtained, the STEAM model was fed, as an input, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) dataset to describe the vessel activity in the area concerned. This study also investigates the effects of the COVID19 pandemic on marine traffic patterns within the area and any corresponding changes in the air quality. Such an analysis was carried out through the use of SENTINEL 5 data.

Book Review of The Fight for Greek Sicily: Society, Politics, and Landscape, edited by Melanie Jonasch

Book Review of The Fight for Greek Sicily: Society, Politics, and Landscape, edited by Melanie Jonasch

Comparison of different methods to assess the distribution of alien plants along the road network and use of Google Street View panoramas interpretation in Sicily (Italy) as a case study.

The survey by foot in the field is compared to the survey from a car, the photo-interpretation of Google Street View (GSV) panoramas continuously and at intervals of 1.5 km and the photo-interpretation of Google Earth aerial images on a 10 km stretch of road in Sicily. The survey by foot was used as reference for the other methods. The interpretation of continuous GSV panoramas gave similar results as the assessment by car in terms of the number of species identified and their location, but with lower cost. The interpretation online of aerial photos allowed the identification of a limited number of taxa, but gave a good localisation for them. Interpretation of GSV panoramas, each of 1.5 km, allowed the recognition of twice as many taxa as the interpretation of aerial photos and taking half the time, but did not allow a complete localisation.None of these methods alone seems sufficient to carry out a complete survey. A mixture of different techniques, which may vary according to the available resources and the goal to be achieved, seems to be the best compromise.To further test the capabilities of the survey using the interpretation of GSV panoramas every 1.5 km along the roads, we proceeded to study the alien plants along 3500 km of the road network on the island of Sicily. This survey identified only 10% of the known species for the region, but allowed us to trace the distribution of invasive species whose distribution is currently poorly recorded.

Geochemical investigations of the geothermal systems from the Island of Sicily (southern Italy)

• A geochemical study on the fluids discharged in continental Sicily is presented • The models of paths circulation and fluids-rock interaction processes are depicted • The relation between the tectonic setting and the fluids geochemistry is discussed Sicily hosts many natural manifestations that include thermal waters, gas discharges and mud volcanoes. Due to the significant geodynamic and geological differences, the fluid discharges along a NE-WS–oriented transect that run from the Peloritani Mts. to the Sciacca Plain shows a large variability in water and gas chemical and isotopic compositions. The studied waters are characterized by Ca-HCO 3 , Ca(Mg)-SO 4 , Ca-Cl and Na-Cl compositions produced by distinct geochemical processes such as water-rock-gas interactions, mixing between deep and shallow aquifers and seawater and direct and reverse ion exchanges. The gas chemistry is dominated by CO 2 to the east and CO 2 -N 2 to the west of the study area, whereas the central part shows mud volcanoes discharging CH 4 -rich gases. Water isotopes suggest that the thermal waters are fed by a meteoric recharge, although isotopic exchange processes between thermal fluids and host rocks at temperature >150°C are recognized. Accordingly, liquid geothermometry suggests equilibrium temperatures up to 220°C. The carbon in CO 2 and helium isotopes of the emissions from the westernmost sector of Sicily indicate that these two gases consists of up to 40 % of a mantle component, the latter decreasing to the east down to 10% where CO 2 of thermometamorphic origin dominates. Accordingly, conceptual models of the fluid circulation for the western, central and eastern sectors are proposed. The regional geothermal reservoir, hosted in carbonates in the western sector and locally outcropping, is of low to medium temperature. Higher temperature conditions (up to 200-220°C) are suggested by geothermometry and probably related to deeper levels of the system. Sicily can be regarded as a potentially suitable area for future investigations to evaluate specific activities aimed at exploiting the geothermal resource.

Patterns of Genetic Structure and Evidence of Gene Flow between Arabian Peninsula and European Populations

The genetic interaction was observed between Asian and European populations. However, genetic admixtures among Eurasians, particularly between East Asians and North western Europeans have been reported but population admixture and gene flow between Arabian Peninsula and European populations have been poorly studied at the level of genome. Here, we have compared the whole-exome sequencing of 1208 individuals from the Arabian Peninsula, Africa, Europe, Caucasian, East and South Asia, to identify genetic structure and gene flow between them. We have shown that there is less differentiation between Arabian Peninsula and Italy samples than that between the Arabian Peninsula and other Europeans in this study. As well as Italy samples exhibit higher similarity of copy number variation of deletion and duplication with Qatari individuals. Arabian Peninsula ancestry expanded into the South Asian, Caucasian and parts of European populations. Large identity by descent tracts (≥ 2.0 cM) were identified between Arabian Peninsula and individuals from Kenya and Nigeria. outgroup f3-statistics suggest that within Europeans, Southern Europeans share more genetic drift with Arabian Peninsula than with other European regions. It is possible that these patterns reflect the Arabs migration to the Italian island of Sicily, perhaps dating back to the 831-1072 AD. Our results showed genetic structure of Afro-Eurasian populations, with different levels of southern European admixture, as a result of the genetic interaction with Arabian Peninsula.

Cetacean Strandings and Museum Collections: A Focus on Sicily Island Crossroads for Mediterranean Species

The study examined the extent of the cetacean strandings in Italy, with a particular focus on Sicily Island. The paper aimed to contribute to the description of a pattern that contemplates the “regular and rare” cetacean species passage along the Sicilian coast. The estimate of marine cetacean strandings was extrapolated from the National Strandings Data Bank (BDS—Banca Dati Spiaggiamenti) and evaluated according to a subdivision in three coastal subregions: the Tyrrhenian sub-basin (northern Sicilian coast), the Ionian sub-basin (eastern Sicilian coast), and the Channel of Sicily (southern Sicilian coast). Along the Italian coast, more than 4880 stranding events have been counted in the period 1990–2019. Most of these were recorded in five Italian regions: Apulia, Sicily, Sardinia, Tuscany, and Calabria. Approximately 15% of the recorded strandings in Italy occurred on the Sicilian coast. In Sicily Island, 725 stranded cetaceans were recorded in 709 stranding events, resulting in approximately 20 carcasses every year; the total number of specimens identified to species level was 539. The distribution along the Sicilian coast was the following: 312 recorded in the Tyrrhenian sub-basin, 193 in the Ionian sub-basin, and 220 in the Channel of Sicily. Stenella coeruleoalba was the species that can be considered as the stable record along the time-lapse investigated, and some rare species have been recorded as well. The role of Sicily Island as a sentinel territory of the cetacean distribution for the central Mediterranean Sea and as a region receiving a marine resource suitable for the scientific research and cetological museum collections is discussed herein.

Changes in physico-chemical traits and enzymes oxidative system during cold storage of 'Formosa' papaya fresh cut fruits grown in the mediterranean area (Sicily)

In this study, the effects of cold storage (5±0.5°C and relative humidity of 90±1%) on the quality of fresh papaya slices packed in a passive atmosphere with a semi-permeable film were evaluated. Physico-chemical traits such as total soluble solids, reducing sugar, pH increased during storage as well as the polyphenols, carotenoid content and antioxidant activity that reaching the highest values at end of trials. Changes in colorimetric parameters resulted in a significant decrease after 4 days of hue angle values, which then remained constant. The cutting process enhanced the antioxidant enzymes activity such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase. The analysis of the main components showed physical-chemical, qualitative, and enzymatic changes in papaya samples during cold storage, showing a shift from negative to positive values along the PC1 and indicating a qualitative decay of sliced papaya.

Characterization of soluble and insoluble fibers in artichoke by-products by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to characterize the insoluble and soluble dietary fiber present in Argentine and Italian artichoke (Cynara scolymus) by-products by comparing chemical analysis and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Non-edible bracts of Argentine (AR) and Italian (Benevento (BN) and Sicily (SC)) artichoke cultivars were employed. The soluble and insoluble dietary fibers were extracted by physical procedures and determined by chemical, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, and chemometric analysis (principal components analysis, PCA). No differences in total dietary fiber content between AR and SC samples were observed, although they both showed higher values than BN. With respect to insoluble fiber, this fraction represents 82.5%, 63.5%, and 55.2% of the total dietary fiber for BN, SC and AR, respectively. Fibers from AR presented different compositions and structures, as determined by ATR-FTIR, compared to those of the Italian cultivars (BN and SC). Comparing the results of dietary fiber measured by ezymogravimetric assay with those obtained by ATR-FTIR and PCA, we conclude that it is possible to discriminate samples that contain different kinds of fiber using ATR-FTIR.

The Mediterranean Historical Imaginary: Interpretation and Presentation in Micro Museums of Central Mediterranean Islands

Abstract: Curators of micro museums located in the central Mediterranean islands of Malta, Gozo and Sicily informed the research on ways and methods they apply to construct, interpret and present the Mediterranean and its historical imaginary in their museums. An analysis of the literature presents definitions of the Mediterranean and its historical imaginary. Following a face-to-face interview based on a semi-structured questionnaire, the research found that curators find it difficult to interpret the Mediterranean. The absence of an explicit reference to the Mediterranean and its historical imaginary was acknowledged. Independent micro museums tend to show more freedom to present such community imaginaries. Curators and their represented communities are countered by the implicit importance given, and connections perceived, by the represented communities through the musealia. Although not specifically presented, the imaginary was more indicated in grassroots micro museums characterised by curators enjoying agency than in other micro museums.

Molecular analyses of flightless weevils Chiloneus from Sicily and adjoining islands revealed new synonymy (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

The trophic ecology of Chiloneus weevil species from Sicily was unknown until recently when the host plant of these closely related species was discovered. The opportunity to collect many samples of these elusive species allowed us to re-evaluate the morphology and the genetic relationships among the three closest of the four species inhabiting Sicily and the adjoining islands. We analysed a fragment of the cox1 mitochondrial gene of adult specimens collected from the host plant Drimia pancration in Sicily, Pantelleria, Pelagie Islands and Malta to study the population structure and the relationships among the different nominal species known so far. Both morphological and genetic results suggest that the previous three species are actually two species with disjunct distribution, for which the new synonymy C. hoffmanni (González, 1970) (= C. solarii Pesarini, 1970, syn. nov.) is established. Chiloneus meridionalis (Boheman, 1840) inhabits the main island of Sicily and Pantelleria island, while C. hoffmanni is restricted to Malta and Pelagie islands. Adults of the two species are very similar in general appearance but still distinguishable by a set of well-established characters presented here in a key to their identification. The genetic approach provided evidence of a certain degree of structure of the genetic variation within the two species that would be worth addressing from a phylogeographic perspective in future work. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1F03BA05-B7A9-44B7-8225-321174A1E3FB

Religious Tourism as a Factor in the Development of the Territory of Fátima – from the Island of Sicily to Fátima

Tourism materializes the movement of people to a destination. This article deals with the groups of pilgrims that travel from the island of Sicily to Fátima, after a journey of the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fátima in their territory. Religious tourism suffered an increase in demand, causing challenges in terms of the development of the territories that have sanctuaries. In recent decades, on the island of Sicily and throughout Italy occurred several journeys of the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima. We will analyse the routes of the images number 8, 13 and 6 in this island. We want to understand the relationship that exists between the passing of the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima in the island of Sicily, and the subsequent visit of Sicilians in Fátima and its impacts to the development of this territory. In order to verify this relationship, the authors developed a survey of statistics data. We identified an increase in the number of groups of Sicilians in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima after the passage of the image on the island of Sicily. Through the number of nights that these organized groups remain in Fátima, above the average of international visitors the authors that these flows contribute to the economic development of this religious tourism destination.

La campaña de Pompeyo en Sicilia (82 a.C.)

La campaña de Cn. Pompeyo Magno (cos. I 70 a.C.) en la isla de Sicilia durante el año 82 a.C., en el marco de la Primera Guerra Civil (88-81 a.C.), no es muy conocida. No sólo figura de puntillas en obras sobre el mencionado conflicto, sino que en diversas biografías de este personaje apenas se menciona su estancia. En el presente trabajo queremos presentar las acciones que realizó Pompeyo, tanto de carácter positivo (impartir justicia, establecimiento de lazos clientelares, la via Pompeia ) como negativo (ejecución de M. Valerio Sorano [tr. pl. 82 a.C.] y de Cn. Papirio Carbón [cos. II 82 a.C.], lo que le valió el calificativo de adulescentulus carnifex ). The campaign of Cn. Pompey the Great (cos . I 70 BC) on the island of Sicily during the year 82 B.C., in the framework of the First Civil War (88-81 BC), is not well known. Not only does he figure on tiptoe in works on the aforementioned conflict, but in several biographies of this character his stay is hardly mentioned. In this paper we want to present the actions that Pompey carried out, both positive (to provide justice, establishment of clientties, the via Pompeia ) and negative (execution of M. Valerius Soranus [tr . pl . 82 BC] and Cn. Papirius Carbo [cos. II 82 BC], which earned him the qualification of adulescentulus carnifex ).

Structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Sicily channel from ambient noise and earthquake tomography

• In this work, we study the crust and the uppermost mantle structure beneath the Sicily Channel, by applying the ambient noise and earthquake tomography method. After computing cross-correlation of the continuous ambient noise signals and processing the earthquake data, we extracted 104 group velocity and 68 phase velocity dispersion curves corresponding to the fundamental mode of the Rayleigh waves. We computed the average velocity of those dispersion curves to obtain tomographic maps at periods ranging from 5 s to 40 s for the group velocities and from 10 s to 70 for the phase velocities. We inverted group and phase speeds to get the shear-wave velocity structure from the surface down to 100 km depth with a lateral resolution of about 200 km. The resulted velocity models reveal a thin crust with thickness value of 15 km beneath the southern part of the Tyrrhenian basin and a thickness value of 20 km beneath Mount Etna. The obtained thickness values are well correlated with the reported extension of the Tyrrhenian lithosphere due to the past earthquake tomography subduction and rollback of the Ionian slab beneath the Calabrian Arc. The crustal thickness increases and reaches values between 28 and 30 km beneath the Tunisian coasts and Sicily Channel. The S-wave models reveal also the presence of high velocity body beneath the island of Sicily. This finding can be interpreted as the presence of the Ionian slab subducting beneath the Calabrian Arc. Another high velocity body is observed beneath the southern part of the Tyrrhenian basin, it might be interpreted as the presence of fragments of the African continental lithosphere beneath the Tyrrhenian basin.

Health and wellness tourism in Sicily: development and enhancement

Abstract Background The Health Counselor of Sicily in Italy, appointed the “Forum Meridiano Sanità” 2020 dedicated to Health Tourism (HT). Sicily is a member of the Italian network “Mattone internazionale salute” that focus the development of Health Tourism aiming at: Establish the state of art on HT;Defining a strategy to give visibility of the services targeting health tourists;Defining joint actions/projects to strengthen Italy's attractiveness and the action plan to promote/valorize health performances and the touristic services offered. Sicily, making use of its cultural/environmental characteristics, landscapes, climate, food traditions and its Mediterranean diet, wants to be accounted for a destination on health/wellness tourism. Target groups are seniors, disabled people and people affected by particular pathologies Contribution of Sicilian Region (Sicilian Health Government and CEFPAS) and of the European program 2021-2027 are promoting in Sicily the implementation of such in the development of the “Health and Wellness Tourism”. In order for this to be integrated in a broader framework a discussion on the first European Charter on Health Tourism will be developed with participants. Results The “working table” has elaborated a document “Framework on health and tourism - the interregional point of view” containing the definitions of Health tourism, a state of art of the national/European legislative framework and a mapping of the touristic flow and the needs of seniors. The Regional Health Government is also starting articulations with other Regional Governments (e.g. Tourism/Environment). Strategic alliances/resources able to transform the tourism sector, should focus a strategic policy agenda for health prevention/promotion linked to a wider concept of general wellness. Key message Promote health/wellness tourism targeting seniors and people with disabilities/pathologic diseases is considered worth the investment.

Cross-sectional survey of canine leishmaniasis in Pantelleria island in Sicily.

Dogs are the major reservoir of Leishmania infantum, the causative agent of canine visceral and cutaneous human leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean basin. Canine and human leishmaniosis are endemic in Italy, particularly in central and southern regions, including islands. Here we show a preliminary, clinical, serological and molecular study carried out in Pantelleria island during 2017. In this study, we clinically examined 136 dogs for the presence of symptoms compatible with leishmaniasis, determined the titer of anti‑Leishmania antibodies, and investigated Leishmania DNA by real time PCR in blood and/or lymph node of each dog. The prevalence of disease was equal to 27% with 95% CI [21%; 32%], lower than prevalence obtained in the other Sicily islands (Lampedusa, Lipari). We observed that enlarged lymph nodes was more positively associated with canine leishmaniasis (CanL)than other clinical signs. The results obtained showed that in an endemic area, such as Sicily, diagnosis of CanL needs to be carried out by including an immunological, molecular clinical approach.

Modeling preference heterogeneity in recreation random utility models when relevant information about users is limited

We suggest a novel approach to analyze revealed preference heterogeneity in recreation random utility maximization models when information about users is limited to their place of residence. We assume that recreationists living in the same place act as a “cohort” and that their preferences are hence homogeneous. We adopt a location-specific distribution criterion. We empirically test the suitability of this spatial approach by comparing its econometric performance and welfare estimates with that of the standard individual framework. We use data on hunting in Sicily to empirically test the cohort approach. Results from individual-specific and location-specific mixed logit models suggest that econometric performance improves when modeling heterogeneity with a location-specific conditional distribution. Further, marginal willingness-to-pay mean values and distributions for site characteristics differ significantly.