Spain – “Mediterranea” exhibition arrives in Valencia

The Consul General of Italy in Barcelona, Emanuele Manzitti, together with the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona Annamaria Di Giorgio, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciences (CASC) Santiago Lumbrera, the Director General of CASC Ana Ortells Miralles, and the Honorary Consul of Italy in Valencia Adriano Carbone, inaugurated in Valencia the Spanish stop of the exhibition "Mediterranea. Visioni di un mare antico e complesso" (Mediterranea. Visions of an ancient and complex sea).

Promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Italian Embassy in Madrid, the Consulate General and the Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona, together with the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI), Telespazio/e-GEOS of the Leonardo Group, the MedOr Foundation and the European Space Agency (ESA), the exhibition arrived in Valencia after several stops abroad (Beirut, Algiers, Zagreb and Rijeka).

The exhibition recounts, in an innovative and unique way, the history, beauty, peoples and myths of the Mediterranean, a region of immense historical value that has now acquired a renewed centrality in geographic, political and connectivity terms. The exhibition features images obtained from the most advanced space technology processed by the Italian and European Space Agencies with Telespazio/e-Geos. These extraordinary images are in dialogue with ancient maps and works of art, creating a synthesis between culture, art and science, past and present.

"Mediterranea" aims to display the "Mare Nostrum" in all its complexity, including the vulnerabilities that threaten it today, by providing data and images that show the unmistakable impact of ongoing climate change, from reduced rainfall to heat waves characterised by long periods of drought alternating with extreme weather events, and altered marine habitats.

The past and present history of the Mediterranean reminds us of the central role that this extraordinary region will play in our future and the urgent need to provide effective solutions to today's many shared challenges.