The Value of the Useless in the Urban Landscape of Small Islands

Abstract. In the variety of the Italian landscape-cultural mosaic, the morphology of Favignana (Egadi Islands) is the outcome of the long-term relationship between natural environment and human actions that has drawn both natural and urban landscape. This relationship, that constitutes the Favignana’s architectural and landscape heritage, is often denied or forgotten because of transformations caused by a new demand of efficiency (usefulness?) in reference to an economic policy based on the tourism-related activities. In this case-study, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) (selected among the Multicriteria Analysis techniques because of its holistic approach) has applied to support the choice among alternative scenarios of urban renewal, to verify if the profitable use of the ground (usefulness) can be satisfied without abdicating to an aesthetical ideal (uselessness?).