Final CMCC Event | Armonie del Mediterraneo Festival
After the inaugural evening on July 17, focused on climate, water resources, and future scenarios, and the first Mediterranean Aperitif on July 18, centered on the sea to come, the CMCC Foundation (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change) hosts the third and final event of the series on Saturday, July 19 at 7:00 PM at Barrito, via Francesco de Mura 67.
The theme of the evening is “Our Soil. Food and Fire in the Mediterranean Region”, a Mediterranean Aperitif designed to provide citizens with an informal opportunity to meet and engage with science, connecting technology, climate, and daily life. After exploring the challenges of water and the sea, attention turns to another essential element – often invisible but vital: the soil. Climate change strongly affects the land we walk on, making it more fragile, altering crops, exposing forests to wildfires, and threatening food security.
Gabriele Pizzileo (CMCC – Institute for Climate Resilience) opens the discussion, highlighting the link between climate and agriculture. Traditional Mediterranean crops face unpredictable seasons, water scarcity, and extreme events, but also present opportunities for innovation through sustainable agricultural practices and more resilient production models.
The presentations of Malik Aljabu and Shahbaz Alvi (CMCC – Advanced Center for Digital Innovation) illustrate how advanced technologies, from artificial intelligence to satellite monitoring, serve as key tools for preventing and managing wildfires, one of the most serious and growing threats in the region.
This event marks the final appointment of the three organized by the CMCC Foundation within Armonie del Mediterraneo, the festival promoted by the Municipality of Lecce with scientific and organizational support from the Euromediterranean Cultural Heritage Agency. In the heart of Lecce’s summer, the voice of science enters a cultural program that weaves together arts, critical thinking, and civic engagement, providing concrete tools to read the present and shape the future of the Mediterranean.
From July 17 to 19, the three CMCC events approach climate change in an integrated way. The Mediterranean is a complex and interconnected system where water, sea, and soil require coordinated responses from science, public policy, and civic participation. This “climate hotspot,” despite droughts, wildfires, storms, biodiversity loss, and environmental migrations, also offers important opportunities for innovation, adaptation, and cooperation.
During these three days, researchers, scholars, and professionals explore, analyze, and share these opportunities, building a bridge between scientific knowledge and daily life, fostering awareness and active citizenship. CMCC researchers present climate scenarios, environmental risks, and technological solutions, providing a clear and concrete vision of ongoing transformations and the resources the Mediterranean still offers.
The variety of languages and venues – from CMCC headquarters to city bars, from formal sessions to open events like the Mediterranean Aperitifs – strengthens the core message: the climate challenge is addressed together, in territories and with communities. Lecce responds with interest and participation, showing how urgent it is to create spaces for dialogue between research and citizens, between scientific culture and urban life.
The event series treats environmental sustainability not as an abstract principle but as a concrete and urgent matter directly affecting quality of life, territorial health, and the future of communities. The CMCC Foundation brings an integrated vision of climate research to Lecce, combining science, technology, and public policies to create spaces for dialogue and awareness, transforming scientific knowledge into shared culture and collective commitment.
From this vision, the Armonie del Mediterraneo program arises, far more than a sequence of events: a widespread cultural laboratory where different languages – music, theater, science, critical thinking – intersect to shape a shared idea of the future. In a time marked by speed, uncertainty, and fragmentation, Armonie del Mediterraneo chooses listening, depth, and dialogue between knowledge, inviting everyone to take an active role rather than remain a spectator.
The Mediterranean to come is not already written. It depends on us.
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