FuoriVia Egnatia

 

FuoriVia Egnatia was a traveling seminar organized by Fuorivia cultural association in partnership with the Università Iuav di Venezia, one of the most renowned universities in Italy and abroad for studying architecture, urban planning, design, fashion and visual arts (www.iuav.it). The seminar was being held along the Via Egnatia, the first road that was constructed outside the Italian peninsula during the expansion of the Roman Empire through ancient Illirya, Macedonia and Thrace. The Via Egnatia was built in 146 b.c. by proconsul Gnaeus Egnatius (who gave his name to the road) as an extension of the Via Appia Traiana, an ancient consular road that links Rome and Capua to Brindisi along the Adriatic coast, with the intent to create an access to the Balkan peninsula.

We are still working on the regeneration of the ancient Via Egnatia, in order to develop a historical and cultural path that builds a connection between Europe and the Mediterranean, linking Durrës to Istanbul, passing through Albania, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, and we aim to create a strong and continuous connection between European and Mediterranean countries, beyond geographical borders. The elaboration of strategic plans to support the improvement of cultural and archaeological heritage and even the preservation of local environment and landscape is, therefore, the key to successfully develop a sustainable economy for local communities.

The project was started in 2015 in Durrës and was completed in 2019 in Istanbul. The project was based on retracing the full original itinerary of the Via Egnatia (1100 km long) that we divided into five main phases, one per year, walkable in fifteen days:

  1. Durrës – Bitola (y. 2015)
  2. Bitola – Thessaloniki (y. 2016)
  3. Thessaloniki – Kavala (y. 2017)
  4. Kavala – Kipi (y. 2018)
  5. Enez – Istanbul (y. 2019)

 

If you want to read something more about our exploration: