## 1 Introduction  
Honey bee mating, differently from farmed animals, is difficult to control, as it occurs in flight, several kilometers away from the hives of origin of the mating bees. It has been shown, that on the basis of the orographic characteristics of the territory, virgin queens and drones move up to 5-8 km towards areas located at the height of 10-30 m, defined as \"drone congregation areas\" (DCA), where a queen mates with about 20 drones [1; 2; 3; 4]. In recent decades, there has been an increase in the introduction in Italy of queen bees and swarms originating from interracial crossings (especially those known as \"Buckfast\") or belonging to subspecies non-native to the Italian peninsula (especially _Apis mellifera carnica_, the autochthonous subspecies of the central-eastern Europe). The increasingly frequent reports from individual beekeepers and from the press information bodies of the beekeeping sector, are also confirmed by the Ministry of Health, which receives applications for the issue of authorization to import thousands of queens from third countries, as well as by the growing number of hybrid samples found in the analysis for the subspecies certification carried out by the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics - Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA, formerly Research Unit of beekeeping and sericulture) and by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana. Consequently, initiatives are necessary for the conservation and genetic improvement of the subspecies _A. m. ligustica_, including the establishment of officially protected areas for the mating of queen bees. Optimal criteria for establishment of mating stations are as follows: absence or minimal presence of managed and unmanaged honey bee colonies and airborne drones in a radius of at least 6 km; favorable pollen and nectar resources; weather conditions with long periods of more than 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C ambient temperature, and wind speed not more than 24 km/h; undulating landscape and sheltered areas for positioning of mating boxes. Furthermore, markers, such as stones, trees, bushes, or purposely installed objects help to minimize queen drifting and losses [5]. To ensure a strong drone population for mating sufficient drone colonies should be granted. A minimum of 8 to 10 strong drone colonies, or 1 drone colony per 25 queens are recommended [6]. Minimal presence of honey bee predator species is also suggested [5]. The database of the national beekeeping registry (BDNA), referred to in the decrees of the Ministry of Health of 2009, 2014 and 2017 [7; 8; 9], has the purpose of:  
* economic-sanitary protection and improvement of the bee heritage, food safety, and pharmaco-surveillance;
* monitoring of the movements of the hives;
* protection and safeguard of the environment and the ecosystem. Overall, it constitutes a tool for the improvement of knowledge of the beekeeping sector in terms of production and health. To achieve these objectives, it is essential to know who the beekeepers are, what type of activity they carry out, where the apiaries are located, how many colonies are kept and their movements. In short, the main issues are tracking and traceability. These data are recorded by the veterinary services, by beekeepers, by associations delegates, each for their own competences, in the national system of the BDNA which, in addition to responding to the institutional purposes mentioned above, could also be useful for other purposes of interest of the beekeepers. One application is a better knowledge of the distribution of apiaries on the territory for identifying areas suitable for the establishment of mating stations for queen bees. The National Registry of Italian Bee Breeders approved by Ministerial Decree n. 1839 of 30 January 2013 [10] has the aim of protecting the Italian autochthonous subspecies by means of increasing their commercial value.