Aegadian Islands

The Aegadian Islands (Italian: Isole Egadi; Sicilian: Ìsuli Ègadi; Latin: Aegates Insulae; Greek: Aἰγάται Νῆσοι; lit.

'the islands of goats') are a group of five small mountainous islands in the Mediterranean Sea off the northwest coast of Sicily, Italy, near the cities of Trapani and Marsala, with a total area of 37.45 square kilometres (14.46 sq mi).

The main occupation of the islanders is fishing, and the largest tuna fishery in Sicily is there.

There is evidence of Neolithic and even Paleolithic paintings in caves on Levanzo, and to a lesser extent on Favignana.

After the end of Western Roman power in the first millennium AD, the islands, to the extent that they were governed at all, were part of territories of Goths, Vandals, Saracens, before the Normans fortified Favignana in 1081.