ON THE STEPS OF AENEAS

On the Steps of Aeneas: a Common Cultural Heritage between Italy and Türkiye is an international project supported under the “Grant Scheme for Common Cultural Heritage: Preservation and Dialogue between Turkey and the EU–II (CCH-II)” implemented by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism with the financial support of the European Union. The “Grant Scheme for Common Cultural Heritage: Preservation and Dialogue between Turkey and the EU–II (CCH-II)” aims at promotion and enhancement of common cultural heritage activities implemented in partnership between Turkish and EU organizations. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism is responsible institution for the technical implementation of the Grant scheme Programme, while the Turkish Central Finance and Contracts Unit is the Contracting Authority.

Promoted by the Associazione Rotta di Enea, in partnership with the Municipality of Edremit (Turkey) and the Department of Communication and Social Research of Sapienza University of Rome, the project is based on the idea that culture plays a fundamental role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between the peoples bordering the Mediterranean.

The project “On the Steps of Aeneas” is part of the “Civil Society Dialogue” programme, which integrates two important objectives: the dialogue between civil society and institutions and the promotion of a common European culture. The aim of the programme is the enhancement of the cultural heritage shared by Europe and Turkey: in this framework, the route of Aeneas, through the legend of the Trojan hero’s journey, is a particularly significant element.

As part of the project, the International Conference “Aeneas in Troad and in Latium: Myth and Archaeology” was held in Edremit, Turkey, on 26 October 2021, during which Italian and Turkish scholars of the myth and the places of Aeneas compared their knowledge of the two regions that constitute the starting and ending areas of the story, from the perspectives of both its literary evidence and its archaeological aspects.

A further opportunity for in-depth analysis and exchange of “good practices” was the International Seminar “The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe: regenerating Tourism and strengthening the common European Identity” held in Rome, on 25 January 2022, at Sapienza University of Rome, which aimed at investigating and researching the theme of digitalisation in order to foster new experiences for visiting and enjoying the archaeological and cultural heritage, through the development of digital technologies and tools capable of making the cultural assets more accessible.

The project “On the Steps of Aeneas” also made it possible to create this interactive digital platform A.R.I.S.T.E. (Aeneas Route Information System for Tourism and Education) that hosts virtual tours of the archaeological sites of the Aeneas Route and information and multimedia contents for an experiential tourism, by sea and by land, that can contribute to the tourist development of the Aeneas Route sites, as well as educational contents to promote and spread, especially among the new generations, the knowledge of the myth of Aeneas through literature, art, and archaeology.