The initiative – born from a strategic agreement between DiVA and the aforementioned museum institutions – responds to one of the political priorities defined by the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli with Ministerial Decree of 21 January 2025 no. 12, which provides for cultural cooperation projects with Africa and the wider Mediterranean within the framework of the Mattei Plan.
The Department for the Enhancement of Cultural Heritage (DiVA), VIVE – Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia, the Parco archeologico del Colosseo and the Museo Nazionale Romano promote the project “So Far, So Near: Italy, the Mediterranean and Africa”: a significant opportunity to delve into the theme of relations between Italy, the wider Mediterranean and Africa from the late Middle Ages to the contemporary age, through a series of encounters capable of combining scientific research and dissemination.
The program has been designed to speak to different types of audiences and to fulfill a specific educational purpose: all events will be recognized as training courses, primarily for the staff of the Ministry of Culture.
The path begun with “So Far, So Near” will conclude in 2026 with a major international conference, bringing together some of the leading experts on the subject.
The program, under the scientific supervision of Massimo Carlo Giannini, Full Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Teramo and among the leading experts in the field, includes a cycle of nine lectures – to be held every Monday, starting on October 6 – and three study days dedicated to relations between Italy, the wider Mediterranean and Africa from the late Middle Ages to the contemporary age.
The initiative aims to overcome two entrenched interpretative paradigms: on the one hand, the idea of an absolute otherness between the two shores of the Mediterranean; on the other, the vision limited solely to the colonial framework.
The first activity consists of a cycle of lectures aimed at a non-specialist audience, delivered by expert and engaging scholars.
The second consists of three thematic study days, which may also serve as training courses, primarily for the staff of the Ministry of Culture.
The purpose of the project is to respond to the need to create a series of opportunities that combine high-quality scientific research and dissemination around the theme of relations between Italy, the wider Mediterranean and Africa from the late Middle Ages to the contemporary age.
In particular, it will seek to overcome the two most persistent interpretative paradigms: that of absolute otherness between the two shores of the Mediterranean, on the one hand, and that of colonialism, on the other.
Lost Horizons
Geopolitics
Between Two Shores
Experienced scholars of various areas of Africa and its relations with Italy and the Mediterranean will present, in the course of their lectures, fascinating and engaging perspectives and interpretations, combining scientific rigor with communication skills.
In recent decades our perception of Africa has, at least in part, changed several times. From an exotic continent to a land of wars and shady trafficking, from a reality with a strong colonial legacy to an economic and demographic space in growth, Africa has historically been and still is a complex, articulated, and by no means homogeneous world. In today’s difficult European, Mediterranean and global context, these training days aim to provide non-specialists with the essential elements to understand what the great continent has been in the past and what it is in the present.