TOURISM EXPANSION AND MODIFICATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON THE EGADI ISLANDS

The Egadi islands are situated a few kilometres from Sicily and have witnessed centuries of Mediterranean civilisation. It has been home to Ancient Green and Latin civilisations: settlements, historical events and their poetic transfigurations, have accumulated around the island and its Aegean archipelago, perceptions from the classical era that have been rediscovered in the modern age (Mazzetti, 1999). The Egadi archipelago, with its primitive and effusive stones, skies and waters; its silent, ethereal beauty is measured by the seasons; the rampant call of gulls, the rustle of leaves, the sound of distant flutes always conclude with her absolute tranquillity. Worn men at the top of the hills and along the edge of the sea; these islands are home to strong sailors, possessive custodians of the rugged extremes that make up Sicily, her myths and legends. These unsullied spaces touched only lightly by the hands of man. The Egadi islands leave the ritual incisions of ancient fishermen engraved upon the heart. Saltiness on the skin, a blissful peace in the soul. These same islands where Ulysses would have liked to have returned, with God as a guide, in Hiera di Marettimo, on the cliff of Phorbantia, on the f1at Aegusa-“land of goats”-to inhale the warmth of Favignana, cast a glance over the high grounds and cliffs, the strong