The vegetables local varieties in Puglia (Italy): a legacy from the past and a heritage for the future

The case study focuses on the role that production and consumption of "traditional vegetables" play in the vegetables food-system in Puglia (Southern Italy). Puglia, leading region for intensive horticulture, boasts an enormous heritage of local vegetable varieties, whose cultivation is still widespread and well established in response to demands of local, international and high gastronomy markets, based on their higher quality and the socio-cultural implications associated. However, a significant part of this agro-biodiversity has been lost in the last fifty years, and the threat of continuing to lose it in the future is serious. The traditional vegetables complement the production and the supply of conventional ones, in a much-diversified scenario of production and consumption styles, representing an example of agro-biodiversity protection and cultivation practices calibrated on the characteristics of Mediterranean environments. The policy makers are investing resources on the protection and enhancement of agro-biodiversity, involving research institutions and promoting actions addressed to seed-saver farmers and consumers. The commercial value of these products is supporting the establishment of forms of association between producers, favoring the creation of brands and facilitating the consumption of local products.