The Mediterranean port-cities and their correspondent archaeological sites within the Mediterranean Phoenician routes share a lack of awareness by the local population towards the value of their heritage and the importance of their preservation and a lack of valorisation by the local authorities of the tangible and intangible heritage of their areas of competence.

MARE NOSTRUM intends to contribute to the promotion and awareness-raising of the heritage value of historic port cities of the Mediterranean Sea, scattered along the Phoenician maritime routes.

MARE NOSTRUM aims at providing a sustainable mechanism for the protection and management of cultural heritage resources in the targeted countries, leading to an awareness of cultural heritage in the public conscience. In order to enhance cultural heritage as part of the sustainable development of Mediterranean cultural heritage, the action will adopt a holistic approach which satisfies economic and social objectives as well as high quality cultural tourism needs.

The action, whose main result will be the revitalization of the targeted areas, turning them into places of life for the local people (which is the main target group of the action), enhancing synergies between past and present, will be implemented by a team of project partners - Medieval City of Rhodes in Greece; City of Tyre in Lebanon; Université Saint Joseph & MAJAL/Academic Observatory for Construction and Reconstruction/ University of Balamand in Lebanon; Paralleli in Italy – coordinated by DIRES University of Florence in Italy.

• To contribute to public awareness-raising of the preservation and promotion of the Mediterranean port-cities sites and its archaeological sites along the Phoenician ring-thread routes in a past-present continuum
• To promote initiatives of community participation in decision-making for designing Mediterranean port-city sites to be culturally, physically and visually accessible by re-interpreting the spaces as new places of life
• To promote through different awareness-raising means the rediscovery and re-shaping in a historical past-into-present overview of the local tangible and intangible heritage in a view of connecting Mediterranean port-cities sites along the Phoenician ring-thread routes
• To trace specific educational paths along the historical role of the cities involved in the action in the Mediterranean culture
• To strengthen and address the actions of the local authorities/governments to the preservation and re-qualification of the tangible and intangible heritage of their areas, through shared and integrated sustainable tourism plans of new tourist itineraries
• To suggest new port-city sites designs-that show their past-present continuum-integrated with the urban fabric and archaeological sites
• To promote the Mediterranean handicraft and safeguard of its design and production

• Medieval City of Rhodes (Greece)
  http://www.rhodes.gr
• Tyre Municipality (Lebanon)
  http://www.tyremunicipality.com
• Département de Géographie, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth (Lebanon)
  http://www.usj.edu.lb
• Paralleli (Italy)
  http://www.paralleli.org

• Archaeology
• Conservation & Rehabilitation
• Cultural Tourism
• Research/Education & Training

• About 100 local guides trained
• Awareness-raising campaigns
• Publications: 1 handbook containing the plan to promote tourism of quality; 1 final publication; 1 “hard archive” handbook containing a selected database regarding the Mediterranean communities along the Phoenician routes; 1 pamphlet on traditional handcraft
• 12 local outdoor exhibitions showing projects for the local traditions handcrafts products
• 180 agencies and tour companies involved in the new tourist itineraries packages promotion
• Audiovisual resources realised and distributed in the actions’ countries

		Interview with Architect Fabrizio Fuccello, Mare Nostrum project Scattered along the ancient maritime routes throughout the Mediterranean, Phoenician port-cities developed intense exchanges throughout the region, motoring a flourishing commercial activity and contributing to the richness of the Mediterranean culture. To revitalise the traces of this civilisation, in our day rather neglected, represents quite an opportunity for developing social and economic activities and integrating them to a sustainable and quality tourism.