Search

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the development of rural settlement of Roman age, in the hinterland of Cignana (close to Agrigento, Sicily). In this area were identified an Early Roman age villa and a Late Roman/Byzantine village, partially excavated by the Superintendence of Agrigento. Since 2007 the Dep. of Beni Culturali of University of Palermo has carried out an intensive and systematic archaeological survey around Cignana, where about 200 archaeological sites were identified. Many sites (farms, and perhaps also some villa) were inhabited from late Hellenistic to Late Roman/Byzantine ages, and some have become very large villages; also, many settlements are placed along the principal rivers (Naro and Palma) and streams (Grancifone, Montechiaro), and they could configure a network, even if the function of some of these sites is not clear. The archaeological findings (amphoras, ARS and coarse/cooking wares) document that North Africa (Byzacena, Zeugitana) and Pantelleria island were the principal areas of supply for the hinterland of Cignana, where we also found wares produced in the Eastern Mediterranean. Finally, some sites may be in relationship (diverticula and other secondary routes) with the main roads of South central Sicily.

A bryoecological study of holm- and cork-oak forests and Cistus sp.pl. populations of the Santo Pietro territory (South Sicily) is presented. In evergreen holm-oak forests, weak degrees of illumination are favourable to shade mosses of the high scrub and of the forests : Rhynchostegiella tenella var. litorea, Oxyrrhynchium praelongum var. stokesii, O. praelongum, Fissidens bryoides, F. bryoides ssp. incurvus, Brachythecium velutinum. In cork-oak forests and in Cistus populations, a strong diminution of the mentioned species is noticed ; on the contrary several species of the degradation stages of the forests prevail such as : Trichostomum brachydontium, Weissia controversa, Scleropodium touretii which present a remarkable plasticity, Pleuridium acuminatum, Fossombronia caespitiformis, xerophilous entities, and finally Timmiella anomala, T. barbuloides, Pleurochaete squarrosa, xero-thermophilous entities which are scattered in the Cistus populations considered., Viene presentato uno studio brioecologico sulle formazioni boschive a Quercus ilex, Quercus suber e sulle garighe a Cistus sp.pl. del territorio di Santo Pietro (Sicilia meridionale) . Nella lecceta, data la notevole densità del bosco, si ritrova vai ricco contingente di specie sciafile della macchia alta e densa e delle foreste : Rhynchostegiella tenella var. litorea, Oxyrrhynchium praelongum var. stokesii, O. praelongum, Fissidens bryoides, F. bryoides ssp. incurvus, Brachythecium velutinum. Per contro, nella sughereta e nei cisteti, si nota da un lato un'accentuata diminuzione delle specie sopradette, dall'altro una netta predominanza di specie compagne degli stadi di degradazione delle foreste come : Trichostomum brachydontium, Weissia controversa, Scleropodium touretii, che mostrano una notevole plasticità, Pleuridium acuminatum, Fossombronia caespitiformis, entità xerofile, Timmiella anomala, T. barbuloides, Pleurochaete squarrosa, entità xerotermofile maggiormente diffuse nei cisteti in esame., Privitera Maria, Lo Giudice R. Contributo allo studio della vegetazione muscinale del territorio di Santo Pietro (Sicilia meridionale) : Sugherete, Leccete, Cisteti. In: Ecologia mediterranea, tome 11 n°4, 1985. pp. 75-86.