All countries overlooking the Mediterranean basin possess a varied germplasm of wild edible herbaceous species, with Turkey, Spain, and Italy having the richest floras (Aedo et al. 2013). According to unpublished data gathered by one of us (VV Bianco), Italy probably has one of the highest numbers of wild herbs utilizable as food and condiment. Studies on botanical, agronomical, gastronomic, and nutritional aspects of wild edible herbaceous plants existing in Italy have been undertaken by Bianco since 1964. In the first published work (Bianco 1969), 113 species were reported. In the successive study (Bianco 1989), 360 taxa belonging to 66 families and 230 genera were listed. Afterwards, the results released by Bianco and Machakova (2002) showed that the number of taxa has reached 808, belonging to 91 families and 403 genera. Nowadays, according to the latest data of Bianco, the taxa utilizable as food and condiment herbs may reach 1078, corresponding to 14 % of the total number of taxa surveyed for the Italian vascular flora (Conti et al. 2005). They belong to 96 families, the most important being the following: Asteraceae (18.7 %), Brassicaceae (7.7 %), Lamiaceae (7.1 %), Apiaceae (6.6 %), Fabaceae (5.5 %), Polygonaceae (3.8 %), Chenopodiaceae (3.2 %), Boraginaceae (2.5 %), Alliaceae (2.4 %), and Malvaceae (2.0 %), and 451 genera, where the most represented are the following: Allium (26), Rumex (21), Lathyrus (15), Chenopodium (14), Crepis (13), Vicia (12), Amaranthus, Malva, and Plantago (9). Leaves are the most used organ in culinary preparation (about 70 % of the taxa), followed by tender stems (45 %), flowers (18 %), and roots (16 %); fruits, rhizomes, bulbs,