**Preface to "Silkworm and Silk: Traditional and Innovative Applications"**

Humans have studied the silkworm, *Bombyx mori*, since time immemorial because of its economic relevance to silk production. Due to the complete domestication of this insect, the duration and any parameters of its development can be fully controlled by regulating environmental conditions. For this reason, this insect has become an increasingly useful and suitable laboratory tool for research in genetics, physiology, animal nutrition, medicine, science of materials, and chemistry, among other application fields. Moreover, advances related to this insect have been accelerated by the sequencing of its genome. This impressive growth of knowledge related to the silkworm has encouraged the proliferation of sericultural advances which have been described in scientific journals dealing with different topics. Therefore, there is a need to focus on the unity of the sericultural sciences as a group of disciplines, with the silkworm as a binding element. The scope of this Special Issue provides a comprehensive overview of the fields and applications for which the silkworm can be exploited, and even to reinforce the link between traditional sericulture and new technological horizons. In fact, silkworm rearing techniques and preservation, strain selection, and maintenance, which are the traditional activities regarding silkworms, are the starting basis for any innovative application. In light of these considerations, the final purpose of this Special Issue is to establish a virtual dialogue between traditional sericulture and new trends in silkworm and silk valorisation.

#### **Silvia Cappellozza, Morena Casartelli, Federica Sandrelli, Alessio Saviane, and Gianluca Tettamanti**

*Editors*
