## 4 Discussion  
In the preliminary study presented here, conducted as part of the activities proposed by the CTC of the National Registry of Italian Bee Breceders--2016-2018 mandate, an attempt was made to identify areas in Italy which could be suited for the establishment of mating stations for queen bees, based on the data currently available in the BDNA and using criteria for isolation agreed upon by breeders and beekeepers representatives and scientific experts [5]. The obtained results show that the overwhelming majority of the 136 identified areas have a small surface value. Looking at the distribution of suitable areas across the country, we observed that in the central-northern Italy, the presence of the areas is extremely low and limited to hilly and mountainous areas. In central-southern Italy, the areas appear to be concentrated along the Apennine ridge, as well as covering large areas of territory in Puglia and in the two major islands. In these regions, the areas with the largest extension in a single body are also found. Furthermore, the region with the largest proportion of land suitable for establishing mating stations, equal to 57.6% of the entire suitable mating area, is Puglia. Given that the distance for isolation of a mating station used in this study is internationally recognized [5], we found that the availability of suitable areas in Italy is really very low. Notwithstanding, an optimistic outlook could be the fact that apiaries belonging to bee breeders were also considered and that some apiaries may still be registered as such but not actually have contained any hives. In fact, until 2019 it was not compulsory to \"close\" an apiary even if all beehives had been removed. [PERSON] [15] recently reviewed the application of GIS methodology for beekeeping development and underlined that it has been used in relatively few studies related to honey bees and beekeeping. He reviewed previous investigations on GIS and honey bees, beekeeping and bee products considering potential trends for GIS application. Among them the possible role of GIS for establishment of honey bee mating stations was also considered. Our preliminary study allowed to visualize the extent, dimension, and distribution of areas in which mating stations could be established for controlled honey bee breeding in Italy, based on the eligibility criteria agreed by the CTC of the National Registry  
Figure 5: (**a**) Comprehensive distribution and location of the possible suitable areas for establishment of mating stations in the Italian territory; (**b**) detail of central-north Italy; (**c**) detail of central-south Italy; and (**d**) detail of Sardinia region. Red areas are those suitable for potentially establishing mating stations. The Italian territory is shown with borders among regions. of Italian Bee Breeders and the relevant literature, as well as on the BDNA data. Further investigation _in loco_ is necessary in order to verify the characteristics and accessibility of these areas for a successful use toward this purpose. Given the present availability of mating stations in the Italian territory according to the above mentioned criteria, it clearly appears that the chances for the use of this tool for the conservation and genetic improvement of the subspecies _A. m. ligustica_ are extremely scarce. Nevertheless, bee breeders could consider compensating the described conditions by involving neighboring beekeepers and by utilizing instrumental insemination of queen bees in cases where absolute certainty of drone origin is necessary for the breeding program [18]. Although there are limitations, this study shows that the BDNA in association with GIS methodology could represent a useful tool in the future for selecting areas for establishing mating stations at country level. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for a steady update of the data of the BDNA and also for an improvement in their completeness and data quality. Conceptualization, F.M. and C.C. ([PERSON]); methodology, M.M., M.B. ([PERSON]), C.C.