THE COSTA SMERALDA PRIZE WITH A SEA OF CULTURE

The Costa Smeralda Prize opens the season of events in the Italian Sardinia, attracting writers, scientists and personalities of Italian and international culture to the island for the second edition of the competition dedicated to the sea.

The long weekend of initiatives - between the festivities of 25th of April and 1st of May - culminating in the award ceremony scheduled for the 27th of April at the Conference Center in Porto Cervo, is a three days debates, meetings, emotions, testimonies and concrete proposals around and for the sea, making the Costa Smeralda Prize a true international event capable of raising the level of attention and consideration around the literature of the sea and the sea itself, between literature and science.

Today, the role of the sea is central in environmental protection policies, as a border area of migratory flows, as the glue of people and cultures, as a muse for the best literature.

BLUE INNOVATION, IN COLLABORATION WITH MEDSEA

Blue Innovation is the non-literary section that provides the scouting of projects, patents and research that have distinguished themselves in the field of technical innovation, technology or product management or process applied to the Blue Economy to reduce the negative impacts of economic activities in the seas and oceans.

Alessio Satta, President of the MEDSEA Foundation, comments: "The participation in the second edition of the 'Blue Innovation' section of the Costa Smeralda Prize is extraordinary. A great many ideas, researches and projects have been presented this year: among them we have selected 12 based on originality and real impact on the protection of marine-coastal ecosystems. The dominant theme is represented by solutions to fight the pollution of plastic at sea and to produce the reduction of pollution discharges, but there is also a focus about cork surfboards, fishing with low environmental impact and innovative projects for environmental education”.

The call closed on January 27th, registering numerous applications, it will be the Scientific Committee of the MEDSEA Foundation to evaluate them and to transmit, by March 3rd, the projects selected for the finalist third, to the Jury of the Costa Smeralda Prize that will decide the winner.

INTERNATIONAL GUESTS

Great expectations also for the special guests of the Costa Smeralda Prize, one Italian and one international. The Special Jury Prize is for Piero Angela, a famous scientific journalist and writer, appreciated by the public for his authority and ability to present complex themes in an accessible way.

The second international guest is Maxwell Kennedy, writer, lawyer, environmental activist, member of the famous American family (ninth son of Robert Kennedy) who, on the occasion of the Prize, will present his book Sea Change, an adventure full of nautical details and humor: a crossing by sailboat from San Francisco to Washington DC, in which Max tells his vicissitudes with love for the sea and navigation.

Maxwell Kennedy, who will present his book for the first time in Europe at the Prize, says: "The sea is a source of life for all of us and is as important as the communities in which we live. We live the sea as much as any fish. Too often we forget about it. The importance of the Costa Smeralda Prize lies in reminding us of how important it is to protect the oceans, just as we would protect our children”.

A WEEK OF APPOINTMENTS

Among the appointments, there is the musical reading of the historians Alessandro Vanoli and Amedeo Feniello that, with the musical accompaniment of Carlo Mascilli Migliorini, will narrate the “History of the Mediterranean through 20 objects”.

For the guests, accomodated at the Hotel Cervo Luxury Collection, has been designed with some special experiences that will lead them to discover the excellences of the territory. Among the proposals, there are: the 'Wine & Gourmet Party' at the innovative location of Vigne Surrau; the 'Coast Boat Ride' to discover the beauty islands and inlets, thanks to the 'fleet' of Marinasarda; the Pevero Health Trail along the ancient paths of Monte Zoppu organized by the Pevero Golf Club; the archaeological tour in the suggestive nuragic site (II millennium a.C.) of La Prisgiona and Tomba dei Giganti coordinated by the Municipality of Arzachena; and finally the Sunset Cocktail at Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, where the Charta Smeralda will be presented by the One Ocean Foundation.

The guests will receive products able to interpret all the meanings of this experience: the bottles woven with the reed, as tradition, by the hands of the artisans of the "Women Weaving for Wetlands" project by San Vero Milis, led by the Medsea Foundation. But also the typical Sardinian baskets wisely re-proposed by Angela Boeddu with a modern technique: recycling paper. The paper and the letters of the ancient alphabets of the Mediterranean, the canvas of Penelope who awaited Ulysses lost in the unknown of the sea, this year will inspired the installation of the artist Giorgia Concato at the Conference Center of Porto Cervo, the location where the award ceremony will take place.

THE ANNIVERSARIES OF 2019 LINKED TO THE SEA

The sea is a theme that recurs in many of the anniversaries in 2019. This year, for example, marks the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the globe by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinando Magellano who left Seville on August 10, 1519 to set sail west. Another important anniversary (that of the landing on the Moon - the Queen of Tides: it was on 20 July 50 years ago that man first set foot on Earth's satellite to try to understand its secrets). In 2019, it will be celebrated the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo, a character who has been able to unite humanistic and scientific culture and who has given the sea extraordinary inventions (such as the diver's diving suit, the bilge pump, the floats to walk on the water, the wheeled propulsion boat, the pile driver ...).

On the environmental front, 2019 will be the year of intensification of the fight against plastic, starting with the implementation of some European directives aimed at protecting the seas, as the one aimed at drastically reducing the use of disposable plastic. But for many people this is the year of slow tourism, a sustainable way of travelling, respectful of the environment and the seas, which has emerged from the trends in the tourism market in recent years.