The New Exhibition “Mediterranea” at the Galerie des Pêcheurs in Monaco

The Mediterranean is a sea of exceptional beauty and importance and, at the same time, an extraordinary ecosystem that needs protection.
The exhibition “Mediterranea. Visions of an Ancient and Complex Sea” was inaugurated yesterday, February 6, 2025, at the Galerie des Pêcheurs in Monaco by H.S.H. Prince Albert of Monaco. The exhibition is organized by the Dante Alighieri Society of the Principality of Monaco, with the High Patronage of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, in collaboration with the secretariats of the international agreements RAMOGE, ACCOBAMS, and PELAGOS.
Also present at the inauguration were: Secretary of State Yvette Lambin – Berti; Minister for the Environment Céline Caron – Dagioni; Director of the Department of Environment Valerié Davenet; Director of the IAEA Florence Des – Croix Comanducci; Director of the Monaco Scientific Center Sylvie Tambutté; Scientific Director of the Prince Albert II Foundation Philippe Mondielli; Maryse Battaglia of the National Council; General Director of the Oceanographic Institute Robert Calcagno and Deputy Director Cyril Gomez; Marjorie Crovetto, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Monaco, and other prominent figures. The event concluded with a reception “signed” by the La Balena Bianca catering and prepared by Chef Paola Chiolini.
The exhibition, officially open to the public today, Friday, February 7, 2025, will run until March 30, 2025. It is promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Telespazio/e GEOS of the Leonardo group, and the European Space Agency (ESA), and curated by Viviana Panaccia.
“Mediterranea. Visions of an Ancient and Complex Sea” tells the story, beauty, peoples, and myths of a true marine continent, the Mediterranean, a region of immense historical value that today holds renewed centrality in geographic, political, and connectivity terms. The exhibition uses images obtained from the most advanced space technology developed by the Italian and European Space Agencies and Telespazio/e-Geos. Extraordinary images are in dialogue with ancient maps, synthesizing culture and science between the past and the present.
Through these images, “Mediterranea” aims to represent the Mare Nostrum in all its complexity, including the vulnerabilities and threats it faces today. Satellite images offer a vision of cities and ports, crossroads of commerce and fertile cultural contaminations, coastlines rich in crops symbolizing “Mediterranean identity” (olive trees, figs, vines), threatened by erosion, as well as islands, which have always been tourist destinations but in the past were sometimes places of exile and today serve as arrival points for migrants. The exhibition path dedicates some images to the theme of Mediterranean vegetation and its fragrances, showing how agriculture has changed and redesigned new landscapes.
Finally, the exhibition wants to represent the current state of health of this sea, providing data and images that show the unmistakable signs of ongoing climate change, from reduced rainfall to heatwaves characterized by long periods of drought alternated with extreme weather events, alterations of marine habitats, as well as illustrating the activities aimed at the conservation of this sea, such as the international agreements RAMOGE, ACCOBAMS, and PELAGOS, which contribute to the maintenance of good ecological status in the Cetacean Sanctuary, a transnational marine area dedicated to the protection of marine mammals.
The history and contemporary reality of the Mediterranean remind us of the centrality of this extraordinary region for our future and the urgency of responding effectively with shared solutions to the many common challenges we face today.
We thank ACCOBAMS for their financial support of the exhibition’s inauguration.
The exhibition and the Mediterranean will be discussed again during the conference on March 6, 2025, at 18:30 at the Rainier III Auditorium, where international treaties for the protection of this sea—RAMOGE, ACCOBAMS, and PELAGOS—will also be presented.