Similarly to other Northern countries, Italy has witnessed a growth in recent years of forms of direct sale of agri-food products. These so-called short supply chains often open new opportunities for the development and conservation of rural areas which are not merely economic in nature. The case study described here presents the results of a survey conducted in the Tuscany Region the purpose of which was to understand if and how direct sale has a part to play in promoting more diversified agricultural systems and in increasing or maintaining agrobiodiversity. The support that the institutions provide for direct sale in this context can be considered as a form of implementation of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) that Italy has ratified and which obliges its contracting parties to promote a sustainable use of plant genetic resources.