​AEGADIAN ISLANDS (Ital. Isole Egati; anc. Aegates Insulae), a group of small mountainous islands off the western coast of Sicily, chiefly remarkable as the scene of the defeat of the Carthaginian fleet by C. Lutatius Catulus in 241 B.C., which ended the First Punic War. Favignana (Aegusa), the largest, pop. (1901) 6414, lies 10 m. S.W. of Trapani; Levanzo (Phorbantia) 8 m. W.; while Maritimo, the ancient ἰερὰ νἢσος, 15 m. W. of Trapani, is now reckoned as a part of the group. They belonged to the Pallavicini family of Genoa until 1874, when they were bought by Signor Florio of Palermo.