The idea of a place where the techniques of artisan workmanship can be exploited, springs from the knowledge that a new importance must be bestowed on the patrimony of skills that has characterised Mediterranean culture for thousands of years.

But it is not a “romantic” vision of craftwork that lies at the basis of this event. The “Emporio Mediterraneo – Mediterranean Craftsmen and Skills” intends to highlight the characteristic techniques and the value of historical workmanship that are still relevant today, even more than the actual products themselves.

Safeguarding techniques to conserve skills that have been acquired through generations of craftsmen’s work: this represents a change of view towards typical craftwork, which over the last few years has been praised more for its “form” than content.

Thus we have an exploitation of the quality of the artisans’ workmanship, making it available for anyone who either needs or foresees its great potential. Thus the “Emporio Mediterraneo” is meant to provide a vast catalogue of skills, techniques and skilled workers with the aim of stimulating creativity and providing new functions and uses for age-old workmanship.

The event not only wishes to contribute to the safeguarding of traditional skills and to the exploitation of products of quality craftsmanship, but also wants to provide a precise meeting point for the workers in this field, where they can share strategies and objectives in the field of promotion of the techniques of historical, typical, traditional and artistic workmanship. Technicians, entrepreneurs, workers in the field of high quality goods can all see the artisans at work as they demonstrate their skills and can then decide to make use of these skills in their own fields.

Thus the event intends to follow an itinerary which starts with the identification of these very particular skills and goes on to discover novel uses and new markets for them.