Invisible Mediterranean(s) 2020 – Mediterranei Invisibili

Articles Tagged with: Invisible Mediterranean(s) 2020

200918_Mediterranei-Invisibili_∏Stefano-Anzini

BETTING ON YOUNG PEOPLE AND CULTURE: IT’S NOT A SLOGAN, BUT THE ONLY OPPORTUNITY TO FREE SICILY FROM PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS with Pietro Briguglio

Pietro Briguglio, the mayor of Nizza di Sicilia, speaks about a Sicily that wants to go beyond its borders – both physically and by building bridges between the memory of the past, the “outside” world, and the future.

Pietro Briguglio, Mayor of Nizza di Sicilia during Invisible Mediterranean(s)-Journey across the Strait, 17 September 2020. Photo by Stefano Anzini.

Sicily is not mafia and crime. If that remains, in the background, a persistent perception shaped by an outdated reading of the territory, it is equally true that today the reality is completely different. An example? Savoca is the village of the 17 mummies, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. It dates back to 1134, but it became famous in 1972 because Francis Ford Coppola, the director of The Godfather, shot some scenes of the film there.
And this is not the only perceptual distortion weighing on and slowing down the island’s development.
For example, Sicily is not only Taormina, nor is just seasonal seaside tourism.
And history and culture are not found only in Palermo and Noto.

Sicily is a land that goes beyond the distances and physical limits of being an island.
Of course, there are real limitations, but they have become so worn down over time that they have almost lost their intensity and urgency: the lack of internal infrastructure, the exodus of the younger population, the bridge that was never built, and the patchy spread of the digital network.
There are also other, less visible limits, yet equally restrictive: from a “human” perspective, we are not sufficiently equipped in terms of professional skills and capabilities to move with agility through a highly complex bureaucratic landscape – both at the regional and national level and, above all, in accessing and making use of the economic opportunities offered by Europe. Developing projects, reporting results, and meeting deadlines all require an organic and well-structured operational approach in terms of procedures.

How important is tourism for the revival of this part of Sicily?
The strenght of seaside tourism also represents, to some extent, a limitation: we neglect the inland’s landscape and cultural treasures. Even the coastline outside the reference hub of Taormina is an underused heritage asset with enormous potential to make tourism less seasonal. An example closely connected to my own territory is the Nisi Valley, on the Ionian side of Messina, made up of small seaside towns and ancient hilltop villages. The valley has prehistoric origins and developed around one of the most important mountains in the Peloritani Mountains range, Monte Scuderi. The direct contact between sea and mountain makes these places fascinating and intense, and it is from here that the “Ring of the Nisi” was born, including Alì Terme, Alì, Fiumedinisi, and Nizza di Sicilia.
A great work that cannot be enjoyed by the community, locked away in a private room, represents an unjust way of relating art to society. Much of Sicily is an extraordinary work of art that remains undervalued and largely unknown.
The spread of culture – and the tourism that can grow from it – is the true instrument for revitalizing the territory.
Un’affermazione forte e autonoma in A strong and independent affirmation in this direction would generate the interest of central government and accelerate the construction of infrastructure. It could trigger a virtuous cycle capable of breaking down all these barriers.
Culture begins with an intense program of education and training that creates a sense of belonging to the territory, reverses the processe of youth migration, and generates jobs for culture, through culture.
Mental barriers can only be dismantled through culture. For Sicily, this is therefore a fundamental issue. What will redeem our land from distorted perceptions is the commitment of a younger generation encouraged – through education and culture – to believe in and invest in Sicily.

Borders and limitations must be transformed into horizons, aspiring to new models that constantly encourage the search for visions without boundaries.
Sicily can be imagined as a kind of beneficial, energizing, healing IV drip – a slow – release infusion of culture, history, and traditions to be administrated to the whole of Italy.
In Egypt and in other countries that have marked the course of human evolution, excavations continue endlessly, even after the essential has already been revealed.
We, too, have an immense cultural heritage to uncover and share, yet there is little interest in “digging” into our land. Not investigating our history means remaining one step behind.
Returning to the town of Savoca, Francis Ford Coppola’s choice and the success of The Godfather acted as a sounding board for the entire area. Today, the power of the internet spreads awareness of territories, curiosity, and the desire to visit them – and this, too, can work in combination with the development of the island’s internal physical infrastructure.
We are also moving forward on this front. Last September, the Government Commissioner and the CEO of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, Maurizio Gentile, signed the approval of the final project for the doubling of the railway tracks between Giampilieri and Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, for an investment of €2.3 billion, already fully funded. The ordinance marks another decisive step forward in the realization of the Messina-Catania-Palermo railway axis, coming just days after the conclusion of the service conference held last August. With the approval now granted, the publication of tenders for the two functional sections – Fiumefreddo di Sicilia–Taormina/Letojanni and Taormina/Letojanni–Catania – can proceed in the coming weeks. The project completes the doubling of the railway line between Messina and Catania and includes the construction of 42 kilometers of which will run underground. This will increase the line’s capacity for both passenger and freight traffic and reduce travel times between Messina and Catania by approximately 30 minutes, enabling the development of a metropolitan-style rail service from Catania to Taormina/Letojanni.

Is the Bridge across the Strait of Messina a decisive factor within this framework of development?
The bridge is a primary infrastructure project, connecting Sicily to the mainland, both for the transport of goods and for the movement of people. The benefits would be undeniable, even though, after postponing its construction for nearly a century, the urban complexity of the departure and arrival areas has grown enormously. Today, compensation measures are necessary to address the disruption that the project would inevitably bring.
Beyond the debates, reflections, and the technological, institutional, economic, and environmental issues involved, the only indisputable reality is that building this bridge is both urgent and appropriate: it is not only in the interest of Sicily and Calabria, but of the whole Italy.

The opening photo is by Stefano Anzini.

A SOUTHERN MODEL CAPABLE OF DRIVING THE COUNTRY FORWARD IS BUILT UPON HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, WITHOUT INDULGING IN NOSTALGIA FOR THE PAST, BY ADAPTING CENTURIES-OLD WISDOM TO THE PRESENT with Serena Bonura

Serena Bonura works and conducts research in the field of ecology and sustainability applied to education and communication. From her perspective, it is not possible to speak of a “South rising again”, because the South is already wonderful. However, quality of life depends on functioning schools and hospitals, not only on landscapes, the sea, and sunshine. In Sicily, there are still many things that need to be improved.

Serena Bonura during the talk of Invisible Mediterranean(s) – Journey Across the Strait III on 18 September 2020. Photo by Stefano Anzini.

Serena lived in Bologna for a period of time, and this experience changed her way of seeing the world (and the South). For her, ecology and sustainability–particularly in relation to food–are both an economic resource and, at the same time, a way to avoid impoverishing and degrading her homeland.

The “new economy” and “circular economy” – emerging outcomes of a more conscious view of the environment–are already quickly turning into slogans. Yet, in reality, work has barely begun in this direction. It is as if anticipating the concept, without having fully experienced it, has already worn it out and made it feel outdated.
For the South, and for Sicily in particular, this is not just an abstract representation: it is one of the viable paths to building an economy in places where, fundamentally, economic structures are still weak. This means making use of the full range of local resources and activities, especially in connection with the agri-food sector.
In Sicily, a new economy can truly be activated starting from tradition. However, Serena emphasizes that speaking of tradition does not mean returning to outdated or obsolete ways of doing things–or worse, ways of thinking.
Awareness of the present, she explains, comes from a layering of positive experiences and mistakes. Nothing should be forgotten; memory is the best key to change. This is why she speaks of “retro-innovation”: taking with is valuable from the past and reinterpreting it through contemporary tools. It is not a concept limited to food and agriculture; it can be applied to every context, everywhere. However, the Sicilian model of retro-innovation is shaped by the specific geographical, cultural, and historical identity of the South in a way that is unique–neither transferable nor directly replicable elsewhere. Just as unique as the South itself.

Circular economy generates contemporary models of consumption, without diminishing or uncritically glorifying the past. It is also an “economy of relationships”, an expression that is almost a contradiction in terms, because it activates a process that evokes forms of exchange rooted in ancient memory. A sort of modern-day “pre-monetary” system.
To explain better, we work in co-production with aggregated consumers from the other areas of Italy, the Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, who agree to share the production risks inherent in agriculture (especially climate-related variables), paying farmers in advance. In this way, the producer does not “run alone” with the risk of not making it, thanks to the pre-financing provided by consumers.
It is a model that is also spreading to other European countries. For example, some Sicilian consortia have signed agreements of this kind with French consumer groups.
Here, then, still in an embryonic form, is the answer to the provocation of “Invisible Mediterranean(s)”: restarting Italy and Europe from the South.
Another example: in Catania, a startup called Orange Fiber was founded by Adriana Santanocita and Enrica Rena. By recovering citrus waste, they created an exclusive, high-quality textile. Last year, Orange Fiber began a collaboration with the Swedish brand H&M, which chose the Sicilian company to produce part of its Conscious Exclusive 2019 premium collection.
Also from Catania comes another hight-tech startup, Kanèsis, which developed a system to produce the first eco-sustainable plastic. It is an innovative material derived from industrial plant waste, including hemp, designed by young engineering student Giovanni Milazzo and his team. It is a thermoplastic composite with properties similar to conventional petrochemical plastics, but with improved resistance and lightness. Recently, Kanèsis signed an agreement with Lati, an internationally established firm. Here again, we see Sicily projecting itself toward Europe and beyond. France, Sweden…we set no limits.

It is a very rigorous narrative, and it conveys the idea of a “great South”. But to what extent does the less luminous and less enterprising side suppress and hinder the emergence of this “great South”?
The South is beautiful.
The South is intelligent.
The South is enterprising.
But the reality we experience must contend with serious inefficiencies that not only slow down development, but also deteriorate the quality of life: hospitals and schools that do not function – or function poorly– are defining feature of our island. We often take refuge behind the excuse of lacking infrastructure, almost as a mantra, but the problems lie elsewhere.

The issue of infrastructure is one of the most painful and recurring themes in the current debate on the South, even more so in the Strait area. Your position may sound counter-current.
It is true that there is a lack of connections, including important ones– I do not intend to deny the obvious. But this is not a recent discovery; it is a problem that dates back to the post-war period, the 1960s, and even earlier. And it has never truly been resolved, except in small stretches. Much of the territory is at serious hydrogeological risk, and when building large-scale infrastructure – such as a motorway section or a viaduct– any uncertainty or design indeterminacy must be eliminated beforehand. In Sicily, there are many “ruins”: remnants of reckless infrastructural dreams, abandoned due to procurement issues, geological risks, conflicts between responsible authorities, or lack of funding.
The railway doubling project between Giampilieri and Fiumefreddo di Sicilia – currently in the news–would run through an area known to be prone to landslides, and of the planned 42 kilometers, 38 would be in tunnels.
Up to now, train stations have actually served nearby communities; after the works, they will be moved outside urban centers, making it necessary to create additional connection networks and invent new models. In Sicily, the key is proximity, not mega-infrastructure. Not least, organized crime infiltration has historically taken root in large public works. Here again, memory is essential because it reveals mistakes–preferably ones not to be repeated. To better understand the infrastructure issue in the South, we can use a parallel: we continue to talk about illness, whereas we should reverse the perspective and begin to consider health as the model.

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THE DESIRE FOR CULTURE, NOT JUST SEA AND NOT JUST TOURISM. THE LOCAL POPULATION AS THE KEY TO REVITALIZING THE TERRITORY. EVERYTHING THE SOUTH CAN OFFER with Caterina Limardo

Caterina Limardo is one of the driving forces behind Zabut International Animated Short-film Festival, an international animated short film festival that, over the course of just a few editions, has become an important point of reference for professionals, enthustiasts, and general audiences alike. Caterina speaks about a Sicily where beauty reveals itself through film culture, people’s participation, and the places themselves.

Caterina Limardo during the talk of Invisible Mediterranean(s)-Journey Across the Strait III on 18 September 2020. Photo by Stefano Anzini

The South and beauty: a widely pairing, just like the South and the sea, or the South and food. Therefore, by syllogism, the beauty of Southern Italy could become the driving force behind its revival.
It sounds simple, but labels can be dangerous.
And they are dangerous for the local population. Sea, food, landscape… the charm of this “touristic beauty” certainly does not lose its visual appeal when visitors fade away and the beach season ends, but what disappears is the energy and intensity of the people who truly bring these places to life.
Those of us who live in the South in November just as we do in August often feel trapped in a cul-de-sac: we consume all our possibilities at the entrance of summer, only to find ourselves, season after season, facing the same wall. We turn back and begin again. Even beneath the sun and in front of the magnificent Sicilian sea, one can experience alienation. In the South, the same opportunities for life that exist in Milan or any other Italian city can–and must–emerge.
The opportunities are there; it is a matter of searching for them with care and determination. They are not always immediately visible. And yes…it is harder work.
The Zabut project is a work in progress born from the shared interests and passion of a group of friends. But it is much more than that. It is connected to the desire to be present as individuals and as people deeply tied to their places, with the dual ambition of personal growth and the growth of the territory itself. Because if a place, a town, becomes beautiful for those who live there all year round, it will become even more attractive to tourists. This is kind of a beauty that does not live off scenic landscapes, architecture, or monuments alone, but off personal commitment, culture, and innovation in content.

Zabut was founded in 2016 in the historic center of Savoca, one of “The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy”. In 2019, the festival moved to the municipality of Santa Teresa di Riva, which was held the “Blue Flag” designation since 2017. Above all, Zabut is an event that, during the days of the festival, creates a connection between a place and a community, between people and locations, becoming a space for cultural participation with a fascinating and welcoming atmosphere.
On the Ionian coast, we are constantly searching for new inspiration, and Zabut is the result of our desire to create and take action.
Today, the project is ready for a further leap in quality that would allow it to stand alongside the most important international festivals, although the difficulties caused by the pandemic throughout 2020 have made this path more complicated.
In that unusual August marked by a temporary respite from coronavirus, yet also by an anxious uncertainty about the future, 150 people attended the screenings each evening of the festival. This number cannot compare with attendance in previous years (450 per evening in 2019), but it demonstrates even more convincingly the public’s desire to listen, their curiosity, and their longing for beauty – in our case, through cinema.
The short films – 450 in total – arrived from 62 different countries, a sign that, in an era when distances are shrinking, international reach is already, to some extent, an achieved goal.
We are ambitious about growing further: first throughout neighboring territories, then across Italy, and eventually throughout Europe and the world. It is an ambition we can fulfil, beginning with the willingness of the local population to participate.
The festival is supported by the Municipality of Santa Teresa di Riva, by a group of private sponsors, and is patronized, among others, by the University of Catania, the University of Messina, and the Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo.
Beyond the many challenges we face – one above all being that access to most public funding calls requires advance payment of expenses, in addition to the paralysis caused by the spread of COVID-19 – we still have many ideas.
We would like Zabut to grow while remaining deeply connected to Sicily and without losing its identity, and we hope to attract institutional interest at a national level.
We are aware that bringing people to Santa Teresa di Riva is more difficult. But then again, bringing people to Taormina was – and still is – difficult as well.
We would like to overcome this “territorial limit” and be able to invite guests and jurors from outside Italy. At present, this limitation is due not only to inadequate infrastructure, but above all to the difficulty of securing greater financial resources.

We would also like to fight, through Zabut, against that stereotypical idea of Sicily still associated with the mafia and organized crime. In some ways, we ourselves still indulge in our past, even in its negative historical memory: in the souvenir shops of Savoca, for example – the village where several scenes from The Godfather were filmed – shops sell gun-shaped mugs as souvenirs…
Sicily has, for the most part, freed itself from that reality, but I do not believe that other Italian regions, including those in the North, are untouched by infiltration from the ‘Ndrangheta and the mafia.
The theme of the mafia has become a kind of folklore that feeds itself through the approval of mass tourism. Yet this carries a negative weight, limiting and undermining trust in these territories. As a result, those who come from elsewhere continue to judge these places through the filter of mafia-related memories and stereotypes.

What is the way to free the South from the South itself?
First of all, by distancing ourselves from stereotypes.
And then by becoming aware that our place of life is slower than that of Nourthern Italy. This is not necessarily a negative thing. But we must not lose ourselves in it or leave things unfinished. Otherwise, we will never truly move beyond the “South”.

The opening photo is by Stefano Anzini.

THE BRIDGE ACROSS THE STRAIT AND THE RECOVERY FUND, ANGELA MERKEL’S PRAISE FOR ITALY AND INVISIBLE MEDITERRANEAN(S): THE CONNECTION EXISTS AND IT IS VISIBLE

Invisible Mediterranean(s) is a permanent project; it does not end with the duration of the Journey. It seeks connections and pathways, nourished by the continuous relationship of interest that the South generates in Italy and across Europe.

Today’s Il Sole 24 Ore published an article about a Mastercard study on tourism trends in G20 countries.
At the opening of the article, journalist Gianni Rusconi referred to a statement by Angela Merkel who, during a video conference with the ministers-president of the German Länder, described Italy as a country that is not at risk and where it its reasonable to travel. Whether the “Merkel effect” will generate a flow of German tourists – provided coexistence with the virus allows it – remains to be seen.

The Mastercard report highlights a rapidly consolidating trend: “…the way people travel has gradually adapted to the new scenario. Spending on fuel, restaurants, or car and bicycle rentals reflects a growing inclination toward ‘on the road’ and local travel, rediscovering national landscape territories.”

“Invisible Mediterranean(s) – Journey Across the Strait” investigates places and tells unexpected stories with the aim of bringing an end to the sort of cultural oblivion surrounding the lands around the meeting point of the two seas, the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian.
It is a project born from a cultural initiative and private economic commitment, supported by several companies, bringing together research on territories, the enhancement of communities, and a courageous awareness of the difficulties resulting from decades of inadequate policies deaf to real needs.

Mastercard’s research has highlighted what Invisible Mediterranean(s) has been telling for the past three years.

The first two journeys were educational explorations in search of the invisible, within landscape and architecture, but also through the stories of the women and men of the Strait: in 2018 through Reggio Calabria, the Grecanic area with Amendolea and Gallicianò, Filanda Cogliandro, and the Costa Viola; in 2019 through Rosarno in Calabria, Scilla, Gerace, and Messina, in Sicily. A narrative built through dialogue, gathering testimonies and fostering discussion, bringing together the visions of authentically Mediterranean people – different in background, age, and role – who share, even through contradiction, the identity of their territory.
The third journey, in this difficult and painful 2020 (from September 17 to 20), marked a turning point.

Journey Across the Strait 2020. Photo by Stefano Anzini

Many things have changed since previous years.
During the summer, the whole of Southern Italy experienced a revival in tourism. After months of mandatory quarantine to contain the spread of the coronavirus and restrinctions on travel to foreign countries, Calabria and Sicily ranked among the five most visited regions in Italy. This was stated by CNA Turismo together with Eurispes. Visitor numbers far exceeded expectations.

The pandemic generated a flow of interest toward the South, and the South revealed the most exposed part of its territory, arousing attention and curiosity even toward its “invisible” aspects.

The protagonists of the third edition of Invisible Mediterranean(s), even more motivated to express–according to their own sensibilities and without conforming to standardized language–the “invisibility” of their places, celebrated through the journey itself and through debates both the territories–in Sicily, the system of the Ionian valleys of the Peloritani Mountains between Capo Scaletta and Capo Sant’Alesso, and in Calabria, from the Tonnara di Palmi to Gioia Tauro–as well as the strong desire for integration within the European context.

Courageous in denouncing the difficulties – from the lack of infrastructure, to the managerial inconsistencies of urban centers, to the territorial-scale dissonances of the Port of Port of Gioia Tauro, and even the unresolved and painful issue of the ‘Ndrangheta, which undermines strategic planning–many mayors took part in the Invisible Mediterranean(s) talks: Piero Briguglio, mayor of Nizza di Sicilia, Nancy Todaro, deputy mayor of Alì Terme, Natale Rao, mayor of Alì, Giovanni De Luca, mayor of Fiumedinisi, Natia Lucia Basile, councillor for culture of Roccalumera, Rosanna Garufi, councillor for culture of Furci Siculo, Sebastiano Gugliotta, mayor of Pagliara, Giuseppe Briguglio, mayor of Mandanici; Armando Neri, deputy mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Ranuccio and Wladimiro Maisano, mayor and councillor of the municipality of Palmi, Aldo Alessio, mayor of Gioia Tauro, Giuseppe Idà, mayor of Rosarno, Andrea Tripodi, mayor of San Ferdinando.

Also in agreement in affirming that the post-pandemic “renaissance” could recalibrate the map of the map of the Strait by relaunching economic investment through culture, tourism, and agriculture, were the presidents of the territorial Orders of Architects: Salvatore Vermiglio for Reggio Calabria and Francesco Miceli for Palermo; together with the “ambassadors” of Invisible Mediterranean(s)–architects active in the territory and holding academic positions at the Universities of Reggio Calabria, Ferrara, and University of Naples Federico II. For Sicily: Gaetano Scarcella and Francesco Messina; for Calabria: Salvatore Greco, Giovanni Multari, Michelangelo Pugliese, and Giovanni Aurino.

In particular, the transit area between Calabria and Sicily, shaped by geography and infrastructural limitations, is dense with uncertainties about the directions to be taken – torn between the desire for expansion and the will to protect an extraordinary heritage. This protection is not about restricting widespread knowledge, which is in fact desirable, but about resisting the vulgarization of low-cost, superficial dissemination.

The issue of the construction of the Bridge across the Strait is interwoven with and cuts across all the other reflections. Also today, an in-depth article in Gazzetta del Sud confirms the exclusion of the bridge project from those eligible for funding under the Recovery Fund, which allocates more than 190 billion euros to Southern Italy, to which are added 123 billion euros in European and national funds through 2030.
The journalist Lucio D’Amico analyses both the criteria for the exclusion and the positive employment effects (citing a study by the Bocconi University in Milan) that the construction of the bridge could have generated in the coming years. But above all, he emphasizes how the Bridge is “the infrastructure that more than any other would bring the South and the Strait area back to the center of national and international politics. And while opinions on the Bridge remain controversial, the issue of restoring the Strait to a central geographical and political position within Southern Europe is, instead, a significant opportunity for the whole country. Precisely the theme of the relationship between the Strait and Europe was the provocation of this third edition of Invisible Mediterranean(s).

We asked mayors, architects and Presidents of Professional Orders which paths should be taken to face the future of these extraordinary places, and to relaunch the country starting from the South, interpreting the Strait of Messina in a European key.
The answer was unanimous: it is possible.
The rigorous (and unsparing) analyses, the concreteness of the statements, and the proposed programmes all describe a territory ready to take off – provided that strategies and actions emerge from below, from communities, rather than being “placebo” measures adminstered by the central government.
Showing attention and listening to the demands expressed by local communities, using European funds and allocating dedicated resources, and aligning interventions with territorial vocations: these are the actions that can drive renewal.

One of the moments of discussion from the third edition of Invisible Mediterranean(s). Photo by Stefano Anzini

In multiple voices, there is a call for the need not to impose a pre-established vision –something that has happened in the past, for example in the mid-1970s, when, within the framework of the special project for the development of infrastructure in the province of Reggio Calabria (CIPE Resolution of 1974), the Port of Gioia Tauro was built. The scale and structural characteristics of the work were determined by its original functional purpose, serving the industrial settlements planned by the Government Authority, which envisaged the creation in Calabria of Italy’s Fifth Steel Centre. In the early 1980s, the construction program came to a halt due to the well-known crisis in the steel sector, which in reality had already begun in the previous decade. The port was therefore converted from an industrial port to a multipurpose one, requiring the redefinition of infrastructure programmes, operational structure, and development plans.
As stated by Giovanni Multari, architect and professor at the University of Naples Federico II: “Gioia Tauro is a geometric center, but also a generator of economic and political meanings. A place of missed strategies and lost opportunities. The Port of Gioia Tauro is a giant facing only the sea, turning its back on the land, because it generates little local impact, is self-sufficient in its function and organization, and is more inclined to look toward the Suez Canal or the Strait of Gibraltar than toward its own plain.”
However, as explained by Giuseppe Idà, mayor of Rosarno “it is also the third in Europe and the largest in Italy for transshipment, the transfer of cargo from one ship to another, usually through unloading and reloading in port; it takes place in hub ports where many shipping lines with different origins and destinations intersect. In the area surrounding the port, the flow of goods and culture intersects and integrates.”
Also, Salvatore Greco, architect and council member of the Order of the Architects of Reggio Calabria, brings the issue of the port back to the territorial scale. “The port is a ZES – a Special Economic Zone – which means that goods are produced and processed there, and trade takes place within the port itself. The lack of adequate rail infrastructure and railway terminals hinders the development of its potential economic spin-offs.”

Supporting the territory means fostering its cultural and tourist vocation.
Once again Salvatore Greco helps frame the issue: “(…) I believe that an extreme form of protection is preferable to misguided interventions or redevelopment solutions that turn villages into something resembling an Indian reservation. That would mean losing wealth, not gaining it, making room for a form of consumption that empties places out – a disposable, use-and-throw away approach to territories. We must encourage a gentle form of tourism, not one that is offensive and arrogant.
A landscape transformed into a postcard panorama becomes aligned with an undifferentiated multitude of postcard landscapes. The danger is that the richness of values may be reduced to a merely temporary purchasing power – and then be lost forever.”
Adds Michelangelo Pugliese, architect and professor at the University of Naples Federico II: “Calabria is a landscape that cannot be trivialized through opportunistic interpretations tied to places, villages, coastlines, or mountains. Beginning with the villages themselves, we are not speaking about idyllic situations, as the term might suggest regardless of context. Often these villages are not only abandoned places, but also devastated by mercilessly ugly construction. Violations that have been committed and, unfortunately, layered over time. The complexity of reinterpreting them also involves the issue of dwelling, which contemporary life has profoundly transformed.”
“Not everything can take the traditional tourism paradigm as its model for development, either because there is no spontaneous vocation for it, or because places do not wish to transform themselves in that direction, – explains Gaetano Scarcella, architect on the “Sicilian side.” “For example, the Ring of Nisi is a circular network of paths connecting the four centers of a valley marked by subtle and previously unexplored landscapes, abandoned workshops, agricultural scenery, and scattered monuments. (…) If it makes sense for the revival of a territory to pass also – though not exclusively – through tourism, then it is necessary to find the right and respectful interpretative key, because these are still unexplored places.”

Inaccessibility and the lack of physical infrastructure remain the constant factor – a brake and an obstacle to any hypothesis of development.
Salvatore Vermiglio, president of the Order of the Architects of Reggio Calabria, takes a particularly strong position regarding the Bridge across the Strait of Messina: “A coordinated and parallel project involving both the bridge and the related infrastructure would mean transforming Sicily and Calabria into Europe. Stepping back from the commitment to build the bridge, on the other hand, means remaining still, anchored to that prefabricated vision of Southern Italy, denying its European and global potential. To deny the bridge means to remain invisible. The invisibility of the territory is not a protection of its beauty, but rather damage to its enhancement and dissemination. An effective parallel, in all its harshness and discomfort, is the contrast between expansion and contraction. The risk of contraction is extremely high and, in a global context that tends toward expansion and integration, the danger of permanent exclusion from development processes increases.”

The political attention currently focused on Southern Italy thanks to the Recovery Fund cannot ignore the actual needs of the territory. As Francesco Messina, professor at the University of Ferrara, stated: “There is a total lack of attention from central government toward real needs, and even local politics struggles to understand the priorities.”

Francesco Miceli, president of the Order of Architects of Palermo, broadens the perspective: “Accessibility to the enjoyment of heritage, as well as public spaces, concerns the issue of citizens’ rights. Providing infrastructure to a territory means enabling every individual citizen to access it.
The lack of accessibility represents a denied right to historical and cultural heritage”.

The protection and enhancement of the territories along the Strait cannot be resolved through infrastructure alone: smaller towns and peripheral areas, suspended between a distinct identity and degradation, must become part of a broader project aimed at safeguarding their identity. Explains Miceli: “The connection with the most authentic territory is difficult to preserve for smaller towns: the relationship between urbanity and rurality becomes increasingly complex, to the point of tearing apart and becoming distorted – Palermo is a paradigmatic example of this. The interweaving of agricultural fragments within the outskirts of the consolidated city can become a major resource: these too are invisible places, though invisible in a different way from the hidden invisibility of villages. They are invisibile because people do not wish to look at them, yet they are strategic for rethinking the city – certainly not to transform them into new building developments, but to construct an identity of connection and enhancement. In order not to deny natural sustainability, the intelligence of the place, and to exalt its resilience.”

To the concept of a natural limit impoed by geography is added that of a self-imposed limit, as explained by Messina “Limitation is the truly serious problem of our territorie: the Strait of Messina has a geographical and political specificity, a point of tension between the Italian mainland and the island, a great water square where the distance between the two shores is ‘dialectically’ variable. Invisibility is a limit tied to the difficulty of physical connections between places, a condition that feeds and perpetuates itself through the restraint imposed by a culture of conservation which, through a cognitive distortion, becomes intertwined with certain environmental policies.
Thus, a geographical limit is transformed into a major political limit that discourages development projects and fosters the abandonment of territories surrounded by ever-higher mental walls”.

Territories along the Strait must – by right – find their place within European geography. To achieve this, suggests Giovanni Multari “Before thinking about new projects, we should first conduct a survey of what already exists – abandoned places and unfinished construction sites. We should involve a network of local enterprises, freeing ourselves from a system governed by a politics of favors that has damaged all of Italy, and Southern Italy in particular.”

The project Invisible Mediterranean(s) was initially conceived with the aim of revealing little-known places – scarcely photographed or narrated. It sought to satisfy a desire for knowledge about a unique part of Italy. Over the course of three years, the project grew and evolved, feeding itself through a deeper understanding of the situations and territories involved, and setting increasingly ambitious goals – foremost among them, transforming the Strait area into a new center of energy for the entire Old Continent.

The opening photo is by Mario Ferrara.

CALABRIA IS IN CONSTANT MOTION, BUT SOMETIMES ITS COURSE IS THE WRONG ONE. LET US ABANDON OLD PROCESS MODELS AND FACE OUR “ARCHAIC FUTURE” with Salvatore Greco

Salvatore Greco, architect and council member of the Order of the Architects of Reggio Calabria, overturns the preconceived narrative of a poor Calabria. Its supposed poverty exists only in the eyes of the those who are unable to see.

“Calabria is wealth”
Salvatore Greco opens with this stement, immediately and decisivly removing one of the many stereotypes surrounding Calabria as a “poor region”. It is a beautiful narrative by Greco one that does not indulge in sentimentality but instead develops a rigorous analysis grounded in observation and the memory of places. An alternating vision – close-up and from a distance – that returns the most honest and passionate portrait of the South.

Calabria is rich in perceptions. Its highly distinctive morphology is itself a form of wealth.
It is a mountainous region, made of mountains that face each other across the seas (the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian), and the physical space between the coasts and the Aspromonte is filled with countless stories.
Eight hundred kilometers of coastline, pastoral culture and cuisine…other narratives and forms of wealth.
Another form of wealth is the Calabrian “unfinished”: the rebar of pillars emerging from slabs, awkward volumes rising up, unfulfilled promises of houses – behind every house there is a social story, and this is wealth. Further wealth is the suspended sense of time, as if it stops and then resumes.
A sad form of wealth, but still wealth, is that of lands abandoned due to economic necessity, hydrogeological instability, earthquakes, and floods.
There is also the wealth of ghost towns, where only the past exists, while present and future are merely illusory intentions: the village of Amendolea and its river, the Cretto di Burri in Gibellina, which tells not what once existed, but its disappearance, the aftermath of the earthquake. The linguistic richness of the Grecanic area (certainly not a “minority” – a word that feels wrong and contradicts its enchantment and fascination).

Again, suspended time. All of this is wealth.

Then we move into the question of how to use and invest this extraordinary value.
A first reflection is that some of these situations have been preserved precisely because they have remained inaccessible.
And while invisibility and inaccessibility can certainly have negative connotations, I believe it is preferable to maintain an extreme form of protection rather than resorting to misguided interventions or restoration approaches that turn villages into something resembling and “Indian reservation”.
That would mean losing wealth rather than gaining it – making room for a form of consumption that empties places out, a throwaway use of territories.
Change, “progress”, even in its most aggressive forms, has reached Calabria filtered through its environmental character and geography – sometimes hostile – and this has caused less damage than in other regions.
We must encourage a delicate form of tourism, one that is not offensive or arrogant.
Landscapes transformed into postcard panoramas end up aligning with an undifferentiated mass of postcard-like landscapes.
The danger is that the richness of values is reduced to a merely transitory purchasing power – and the lost forever.

Can the authenticity of the Calabrian territory be reconciled within a European framework? The provocation we are putting forward with Invisible Mediterranean(s) is that of restarting the country (and Europe as well) from the southern Mediterranean.
These are not separate positions, but shared objectives grounded in respect for identity.
In Calabria there is no strong opposition between countryside and city; our wealth comes from the rural world and can be interpreted and strengthened within a European perspective. We are cities, villages, and communities: we must relaunch the vision of the world within and through communities.
For this reason, I believe a surgical level of attention is needed in how tourism is directed. And we must do this ourselves, as Calabrians.
Many things have been “dropped from above” onto us – for example investments in the steel industry, despite its crisis (with Taranto already struggling as a competitor). The Port of Gioia Tauro later managed to transform itself into a transshipment hub, but generating little local spin-off. The port is in fact a ZES–Special Economic Zone–which means that production and processing take place and exchange happens within the port itself. However, the lack of adequate rail infrastructure and railway terminals hinders the development of a potential local economic ecosystem.

We simply need to return to being what we once where, without anachronistic positions, within a framework of real change.
Calabria is in constant motion, but too often the course it takes is the wrong one.
We can speak a great deal about conservation– about architecture, landscape, and places. But places and landscapes exist through their transformation. To trivialize concepts and apply labels – first “sustainability”, now “resilience” – while pretending not to understand what real mutation means, overlaying inadequate models onto communities, is precisely to take the wrong direction.

In Calabria there are two dawns and two sunsets: the sun rises over the Ionian Sea and over the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the water is made of two seas and of the fiumare. Geography is what shapes history. And it is from here that we must begin.
Politics – which is a fundamental component in triggering architectural processes – must detach itself from models that do not work and embrace the regenerative capacity inherent in territories.
Nik Spatari, an internationally renowned artist and recently deceased, founder of Musaba, the art park in Mammola, spoke of the “archaic future” of Calabria – an idea that is less visionary and more deeply rooted in reality.
“I wish greater fortune to this my, and our, ultramediterranean Calabria”.
With Nik Spatari.

THE INFRASTRUCTURAL GAP GENERATES A CULTURAL GAP. THE DESIGN NARRATIVE STOPS, THE PERSPECTIVE CLOSES. CONNECTION – BETWEEN CLABRIA AND SICILY, BETWEEN THE IONIAN COAST AND THE TYRRHENIAN COAST – IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO BEYOND THE LIMIT with Francesco Messina

Francesco Messina, architect and contract lecturer at the University of Ferrara, addresses the concept of “limit”: the limits of cultural policy, of environmental policy, and of an attitude of self-imitation that prevents major transformation in the extraordinary space between Sicily and Calabria.

Invisible Mediterranean(s) is a narrative that makes it possible to discover territories that would otherwise remain in the background. Above all, it is a form of ‘proof of existence’., because without knowledge, storytelling, and representation, places and landscapes would not exist beyond their physical boundaries. The Journeys Across the Strait have the merit of going beyond the limit of invisibility.
The limit is the most serious problem of our territories: the Strait of Messina has a geographical and political specificity, a point of tension between the island and mainland dimensions of Italy, a large water space where the distance between the two shores is ‘dialectically’ variable. The journey becomes a syncrasis between these cultures – Sicilian and Calabrian – which find in the Strait a unique form of synthesis and propulsive energy, something that concerns the entire Italian South.
Landscapes are revealed, places are identified, and their knowledge is amplified, extending it to the entire local community and to Italy, in a global expansion where, finally, the limit is broken down.
Invisibility is a limit linked to the difficulty of physical connections between places, a condition that feeds and perpetuates itself through the constraints imposed by a culture of conservation which, in a distorted cognitive process, overlaps with certain environmental policies.
Thus, a geographical limit is transformed into a major political limit that discourages development projects and encourages the abandonment of territories sorrounded by increasingly high mental walls.
All levels of infrastructure are missing, starting from the physical one – and I am not referring only to exceptional engineering works such as bridges and viaducts, but also to basic roads.
In Sicily there is greater sensitivity; in Calabria, the two coasts – Ionian and Tyrrhenian – do not communicate with each other.
The revival of Calabria depends on these connection nodes between east and west, and between the interior, the mountains, and the coasts.
Architecture must intersect with infrastructure projects, acting on the territory to bring out its value and transform it into a driver for tourism flows.

Tourism is a key element for places with unique environmental characteristics. But architecture has the responsibility to look toward the everyday life of a territory …
A country’s strategy can coordinated through architecture, which brings together, within an overall vision, the regeneration of places without allowing certain functions to prevail at the expense of others, and without creating single “vocations”.
Calabria region, in particular, must restart from architecture because it is dense with contradictions; it has been scarred by illegal construction that has continued, unpunished, for years. Architecture recognizes beauty everywhere, even where the “ordinary” eye sees only ugliness, and design is the best tool for redemption.
Redemption and regeneration feed one another, creating places for social life, public and accessible spaces. And precisely the lack of places where people can gather, engage, and find orientation is another serious limitation for communities. On the part of central government, there is a total lack of attention to real needs, and even local politics struggles to understand the true priorities.

Do decision-making and operational processes seem slower in Southern Italy than elsewhere? Is there a different sense of time in Calabria and Sicily?
Contrary to this common perception, I distance myself from the cliché of the “slow time” of the South: time is the same in both the North and the South. The difference is that in the South, Time expands in order to settle, to be absorbed, and metabolized. In the unique space between Sicily and Calabria, there is no such thing as “disposable” time – a consumable kind of time that leaves no trace of reflection or growth. In the South, Time always leaves something behind.

VILLAGES AND LANDSCAPES SPEAK OF CALABRIA. BUT IT IS IMMATERIALITY AND SUSPENSION THAT CONSTITUTE ITS PERFECT NARRATIVE EPIPHANY with Michelangelo Pugliese

Unexpected are the reflections of Michelangelo Pugliese, architect and landscape designer, professor at the University of Naples Federico II: mutation as a stable element of the landscape, and the search for beauty everywhere – even in what is ‘ugly’

Is the South a territory?
Michelangelo Pugliese is not particularly fond of the world ‘territory’, arguing that it evokes a ‘1970s flavor’ and an overly technical, urban-planning dimension. He prefers to use the term ‘landscape’. Why?

Because, in his view, ‘territory’ tends to frame space as something primarily administered, measured, and governed through planning categories – roads, zoning, infrastructure, administrative boundaries. It carries a bureaucratic and functionalist imprint that became especially strong in post-1960s and 1970s planning culture. ‘Landscape’, instead, shifts the focus. It is not just a container of functions, but a lived and perceived space: a synthesis of natural forms, built environments, memory, perception, and everyday practices. It allows for ambiguity, change, and even contradiction – including abandonment, transformation, and informal uses – without reducing everything to a planning problem to be solved. In that sense, speaking of ‘landscape’ rather territory is also a way of resisting a purely technical or top-down gaze. It opens the possibility of reading the South not only as something to be organized, but as something already meaningful, already narrated, and constantly evolving – even in its fragilities.

The relationship between these three elements is in continuous evolution, and this immediately highlights how the expression ‘landscape restoration’ is, in itself, a contradiction in terms.
Mutation is the primary characteristic of landscape.
Calabria is a landscape that cannot be trivialized through opportunistic interpretations tied to villages, coastal areas, or mountains. Starting with villages, we are not dealing with idyllic situations, as the term itself often seems to suggest regardless of context.
In Calabria there is no widespread desire to ‘return to the villages’; this is more a media distortion or an exercise in balancing architecture and marketing narratives.
Often, villages are not only abandoned places, but also damaged by an unforgiving and often ugly form of construction – acts of architectural violence that have unfortunately sedimented over time.
The complexity of reinterpreting them also involves the theme of dwelling, which contemporary society has profoundly transformed.
As well taught in Spanish schools of architecture, the design theme is not singular but must be declared and adapted according to places and situations.
Thus, today, living in a village is different from living in a small town. The actions required must be appropriate and coherent with the historical dimension, the recent past, and future perspectives.
Certainly, the only thing that cannot be done is simply ‘returning’ as if going back to the village had, in itself, a healing or redemptive value.
If ways of living have changed, and this transformation must be supported through design actions, then with equal care we must avoid trivializing the process of updating, or turning interventions into mere salone exercises. A propositive example of a well-conceived project is Farm Cultural Park, near Agrigento, which has enhanced a degraded and abandoned place through cultural regeneration.

The example of Favara is remarkable, but its starting point already had some advantages: the Moorish-styly courtyards in Favara’s historic centre, and its proximity to Agrigento …

Villages to be restored do not all start from the same conditions of fascinating abandonment and decay wrapped in brambles that conceal extraordinary beauty.
However, the intensity of a suspended soul exist in all centres that were once inhabited: a hidden soul, sometimes deeply concealed by ‘uglyness’. I also believe it is an advantage to work on places where beauty is more hidden. In such cases, research can free itself from the constraints of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio, but above all from certain cultural approaches that do not allow for the new, or take into account the unpredictability of a design thinking shaped by landscape and communities.

Our project, Invisible Mediterranean(s), has the unique merit of revealing the beauty behind ugliness, without fearing to engage with visions closer to a scenario of desolation that to the enchanted forest of Sleeping Beauty.
All of this is the authentic contemporary South: a South that coexists with ugliness and, in turn, coexists with magnificent landscapes, tongues of sea and light. It is a reality that must be valued and cannot be ignored, because it is within it that communities live – memory of the past and energy for the future, the true strength of the South.
It is the immaterial dimension that filters the beauty of landscapes and villages, making everything clear and more legible, beyond the stereotype of the postcard image.
The architect’s work thus becomes more difficult, as it requires the reconstruction of the immaterial dimension of territories, often suffocated by labels and narratives that have distorted their soul.

In this balance between needs and desires, time plays an essential role.
The time of South is different, but it is not slower, as is often said. It is a non-linear time, made of compressions and dilations: at times it condenses rapidly, at others it settles. Actions combine according to this temporal balance, from which design action emerges.
More than ever today, architecture must step down from the pedestal, be courageous, take risks, and accept even the possibility of error.

THE STRAIT BRIDGE AND THE MUSEUM OF THE SEA BY ZAHA HADID COULD TRANSFORM SOUTHERN ITALY INTO A DYNAMIC SOUTHERN EUROPE AND A DRIVING NORTHERN HUB FOR AFRICA AND THE EAST with Salvatore Vermiglio

It is not a provocation, according to Salvatore Vermiglio: the invisible reveals itself through a comprehensive strategy of emancipation from outdated and worn-out models. The South, and Calabria region in particular, are vibrant and full of energy.

The emerging – albeit slow – process of restoring architecture to its role as an urban and social driving force, as a means of strengthening communities and as an engine for collective progress, represents and extraordinary opportunity for the entire country, for our South, and for supporting, guiding, and assisting both national and local politics.
The questions and reflections awakened by the pandemic have, as an initial reaction, turned the spotlight onto Italy’s beautiful yet invisible places. To make our places truly accessible and enjoyable, architecture and politics must work together – and quickly: without roads without infrastructure, these invisible places cannot be reached.

Building the bridge across the Strait or the tunnel beneath it (interchangeable in terms of connection, though certainly not in terms of architecture, engineering, and impact) is an important choice for opening up to the world and to Italy a closed-off territory that would undoubtedly undergo profound transformation, altering geographical, environmental, and socio-economic balances. Something would be lost (a great deal, perhaps?), but much would also be gained. Our South would become a strong South, with a decisive voice on the economic and political stage – a new hub between Africa, the East, and Europe. An infrastructure network serving the hypothetical bridge would generate economic value and unlock the cultural and tourism potential of our territories. Architecture, fundamental in this process, would have the task of guiding a conurbation protected from degrading physical contamination – in terms of construction, urban planning, and infrastructure.

In summary and simplifying the issue, the point is that if the bridge is not built, the essential infrastructure will not be developed – both those within the regions and those connecting them to Rome and the rest of Italy. The urgency of the bridge, together with a coordinated and parallel project linking the bridge and infrastructure development, means transforming Sicily and Calabria into Europe. Conversely, stepping back from the commitment to build the bridge would mean remaining stagnant,. anchored to that prefabricated vision of the South, while denying its European and global potential.

Denying the bridge means remaining invisible. The invisibility of a territory is not a protection of its beauty, but rather a detriment to its enhancement and dissemination. A powerful parallel, despite its harshness and discomfort, is the contrast between expansion and contraction. The risk of contraction is extremely high and,. in a global context that tends toward expansion and integration, it increases the danger of permanent exclusion from development processes. To counter contraction, it is essential to direct investments towards schools and both physical and digital infrastructure. Cultural and physical depopulation is a serious form of contraction, and education – together with awareness of the value of the territory – is the only real possibility for reversing the course of abandonment.

How can a pragmatic and operational vision be reconciled with positions of ‘intellectual and protective hesitation’, discreet enhancement, and slow-paced development?
Ours – especially Calabria’s – is an undeserved invisibility. I believe that bringing greater attention to the territory, even through bold and powerful attractions, is a crucial step toward restoring balance between what is visible, what remains invisible yet deserves to be revealed, what can remain invisible (delicate and unique parts of the territory), and even what we may not wish to look at.
Haha Hadid’s project for the Museo del Mare could become such a powerful attraction, beyond the architectural and cultural controversies surrounding it. In this regard, as the Order of Architects, we have committed ourselves to contributing to the public debate, and we have created a synergy with the municipal administration of Reggio Calabria for the realization of the Museo del Mare.

Bringing to light the richness of Reggio Calabria and strengthening the university system so that it can serve as an attractive hub not only for the South, but for all of Europe as well – given the undeniable uniqueness of our heritage – could prove effective, just as it has for other cities, Ferrara for example, also acting as a driving force for urban renewal in the form of a university city, helping to reverse the processes of abandonment and depopulation.

In this vision, villages – no longer isolated entities defined solely by their uniqueness and beauty – could benefit from a network capable of supporting their immense potential. A village is not a consumer product. It makes no sense to speak of villages in a generic and interchangeable way, as a thought Tuscany could be swapped with Liguria, or Liguria with Calabria. In many of our villages there are not even emergency medical services, assuming one can actually reach team. Nor is there fiber-optic internet access, assuming it is even possible to buy groceries without embarking on expeditions that consume an entire day.

What is the operational path to follow?

The first step is to abandon local rivalries between Sicily and Calabria and work together to bring priorities and intervention strategies to the attention of lawmakers. Let us raise our heads again, especially now, after COVID – which, despite the harshness of loss, the severity of illness, and the economic devastation it caused, had the merit of making us aware of how strong the South truly is.
To achieve this, let us begin with architecture, assigning it a strategic coordinating role. We are no longer willing to settle.
Let us dare to make difficult choices. Let us bring architecture and infrastructure together. Let us connect the Ionian coast with the Tyrrhenian coast.
Let us think and act freely, without prejudice.
Let us accelerate.