MEDITERRANEAN LEXICON LESSICO MEDITERRANEO Geo-Italy – Series published by the Italian Commitee for the International Geographical Union Also in the series: Humanistic and Behavioural Geography in Italy Edited by Giacomo Corna Pellegrini Urban Networks Edited by Giuseppe Dematteis and Vincenzo Guarrasi Mediterranean Geographies Edited by Sergio Conti and Anna Segre Geographies of Diversity Edited by Sergio Conti Geo-Italy 5 Mediterranean Lexicon Lessico Mediterraneo Edited by Paolo Giaccaria Maria Paradiso SOCIETÀ GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA CNR – Italian Committee for the International Geographical Union EU-POLIS – European Urban Systems, Turin University and Polytechnic © Società Geografica Italiana ISBN 978-88-88692-84-5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form of by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by Società Geografica Italiana Via della Navicella, 12 Villa Celimontana 00184 Roma Italy English editing by Proof-Reading-Service.com Layout editing by Cinzia Pagano (Politecnico di Torino) Cover: Porta d’Europa, Lampedusa by Kitagawa Shinya (courtesy) Contents Introduction Paolo Giaccaria, Maria Paradiso 1 A Ambiente/Environment Mauro Spotorno 5 B Balcani/Balkans Roberto Romano, Sergio Zilli 21 C Città/Cities Raffaele Cattedra, Francesca Governa, Maurizio Memoli 39 D Diaspora/Diaspora Giulia de Spuches 55 E Energia/Energy Matteo Puttilli 71 F Frontiera/Frontier Edoardo Boria, Elena dell’Agnese 87 G Genere/Gender Rachele Borghi, Monica Camuffo 103 H Hotel/Hotel Lorenzo Bagnoli, Stefano Malatesta 117 I Insediamenti/Settlements Raffaele Cattedra, Francesca Governa, Maurizio Memoli 129 L Levante/Levant Stefano De Rubertis 147 V M Mare/Sea Stefano Soriani, Fabrizia Buono 165 N Natura/Nature Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg, Federico Ferretti 181 O Ospitalità/Hospitality Paolo Giaccaria, Ugo Rossi 197 P Patrimonio/Heritage Cristina Scarpocchi 213 Q Qualità della vita/Quality of life Monica Morazzoni, Davide Colombo 229 R Rete/Internet Maria Paradiso, Massimiliano Tabusi 249 S Scambi/Exchanges Daniele Ietri, Francesca Silvia Rota 265 T Terrore/Terror Maurizio Scaini 285 U Urbicidio/Urbicide Francesco Mazzuchelli 299 V Viaggio/Travel Luca E. Cerretti 315 Z Zona di libero scambio/Free trade area Filippo Celata 329 References 349 VI List of contributors Lorenzo Bagnoli, Università di Milano ‘Bicocca’ Rachele Borghi, Université de Rennes 2 Edoardo Boria, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Fabrizia Buono, Università di Venezia ‘Ca’ Foscari’ Monica Camuffo, Arte della Resistenza Raffaele Cattedra, Université de Montpellier Filippo Celata, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Luca E. Cerretti, Università di Genova Davide Colombo, Università di Milano ‘IULM’ Giulia de Spuches, Università di Palermo Stefano De Rubertis, Università del Salento Elena Dell’Agnese, Università di Milano ‘Bicocca’ Federico Ferretti, Géographie-cités, équipe EHGO, CNRS, Paris Paolo Giaccaria, Università di Torino Francesca Governa, Politecnico di Torino Daniele Ietri, Università della Valle d’Aosta VII Stefano Malatesta, Università di Milano ‘Bicocca’ Francesco Mazzucchelli, Università di Bologna Maurizio Memoli, Università di Cagliari Monica Morazzoni, Università di Milano ‘IULM’ Maria Paradiso, Università del Sannio in Benevento Matteo Puttilli, Università di Torino Roberto Romani, Università di Trieste Ugo Rossi, Università di Torino Francesca Silvia Rota, Politecnico di Torino Maurizio Scaini, Università di Gorizia Cristina Scarpocchi, Università della Valle d’Aosta Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg, Università di Milano ‘Bicocca’ Stefano Soriani, Università di Venezia ‘Ca’ Foscari’ Mauro Spotorno, Università di Genova Massimiliano Tabusi, Università per Stranieri di Siena Sergio Zilli, Università di Trieste VIII Foreword Sergio Conti and Franco Salvatori It is not only in the geographical imagination, but equally so in a large part of contemporary social science, that in the relationships between the two, or perhaps among the several, shores of the Mediterranean, people seem unable to find, if not a stable equilibrium, at least a nucleus of practices, representations and policies capable of providing continuity in the relationships between the two shores, calming tensions and finding a way towards commonly agreed development. In the meanwhile, the phenomena that have impacted on the European and global economy and policy over recent decades (growing internationalization, or even more, the formation of regional and supranational systems) seem to have increasingly marginalized the Mediterranean area, both as regards production and commerce, from global process decisions. It is even the case, as is claimed by many people, that these facts have the potential to turn mare nostrum into a new melting pot of citizenship based on rearticulating the forms and modes of discussion and therefore of political participation, even though the scenarios seen in this light are uncertain and highly problematic. In just the same way, the growth of Turkey, both in terms of production and income and in terms of geopolitical weight and international influence, can only partially mitigate the overall image of marginalization, instability and a progressive detachment from the centers and systems where decisions are made and production carried out. In many ways the Mediterranean seems trapped in its “great future in the past”, in other words that mix of mythologies that idealize its role as the cradle of European civilization, torn from the context of the processes in the formation of modernity, so cutting it down to the “other place” as regards Europe, even though it still is the father and half- brother of the triumphant Western world. This is to forget Herodotus himself who warned against the risk of banalizing the world and Mediterranean society by presenting it as a political and cultural centre in contrast to a periphery (global of course). This is a vision that markedly counters many other commonplaces aimed, on the contrary, to IX paint a picture of the Mediterranean as a maginalized area, condemned by poor land, its geographical position and endless conflict taking place between the peoples living along its coasts. We can add that in the meanwhile there has been an explosion of visions of the Mediterranean as a “geographical fault line” in economic, demographic, political and cultural terms, while often forgetting an irreducible complexity given the fact that its internal segmentations can mostly, or perhaps only, be distinguished above all on the map due to an abstract definition of problems considered in turn. This follows the same path by which the region’s outer borders themselves are considered rather imprecisely in accordance with the logic – and rhetoric – of flexible geometry and porous borders. This all reflects a framework which insists on counterposing the vision of an environmental and anthropological unity of the Mediterranean basin to one held especially dear by the European Union of a fragmented and marginal space marked by a notable late development compared with the economic (and also political and cultural) modernity in the north-central part of the continent. This book fits into this scenario. The Italian Geographical Society has suggested its publication as it has long been engaged, and will probably be so even more in the future, engaged in systematic research work into new accounts and new representations able to reveal this region and these places, as the lands to explore were not all covered by the end of the period of explorations and much still remains to be done, above all in the present day context with the changes in small and large theatres in our nature and society. The final publication, for the reasons we recall here and for those explained by its editors, is a lexis, that is a sum of unities, combinations, identities and rhetoric able to piece together the fragments into a vision of the Mediterranean region which still risks being lost in the confrontation between history and geography and between economics and culture. The book is therefore full of impressions and discoveries aimed at introducing the reader to a multiform region, inviting him or her to rework the picture or, more simply, to focus on its parts – so a warning for the unwary, but also a stimulus for experts in piecing together mosaics. X Introduction Mediterranean Lexicon: geography of a contemporary labyrinth (or pluriverso?) Mediterranean Lexicon is an exploration of the Mediterranean labyrinth. Following two centuries of Mediterranean and Mediterraneanist investigations, it is a ‘scientific expedition’ from the Mediterranean and around the Mediterranean. Exploration here evokes a scientific journey that cannot be anchored to a structured, well known, research path, but rather is set on a route of progressive interpretation and knowledge of a terra incognita. Indeed, the Mediterranean escapes any ultimate definition and understanding, despite the fact that it has constituted a geographic reference and topos since Strabo and that it constitutes, along a millenary longitudinal path, a chora (Olsson 2012). For Derrida, following Plato, a chora is where the subject establishes his/her own place. In Olsson’s words, “how do I grasp the formless that refuses to be categorized, how do I comprehend the incomprehensible?” (2012, 6). We thus can understand the Mediterranean as a chora as a starting and stimulating departure