Conveners:
Alberto Renzulli (Università di Urbino)
Sara Tiziana Levi (Università di Ferrara)
Alessandra Cinquegrani (Università di Palermo)
Andrea Di Renzoni (CNR-ISPC)
Volcanic areas have played a fundamental role in shaping Mediterranean connectivity throughout history. Far from being marginal or isolated spaces, volcanic areas – whether insular, coastal or inland, active or dormant/extinct volcanoes – have long functioned as nodes of interaction where natural resources and economic interests converged. Mediterranean volcanic areas provided highly prized raw materials with widespread exchange networks, such as lava millstones, obsidian, sulphur, alum or kaolin. In addition, fumaroles, hot springs, mud pools, and gas emissions inspired awe and fear, shaping religious beliefs, ritual practices and mythological interpretations, and gave rise to balneotherapy. Nowadays the volcanic areas are increasingly vulnerable. Climate change, extreme weather events, and intensified human pressure amplify the intrinsic fragility of volcanic terrains, often consisting of unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits and characterized by steep morphologies. Issues of environmental sustainability, risk mitigation, heritage preservation, and adaptive governance are therefore challenging for Mediterranean volcanic areas in long-term perspective. In the same way these areas represent interdisciplinary laboratories, where geology, archaeology, history, anthropology, economics and environmental sciences meet. This session aims to explore how natural resources, cultural practices, and human mobility linked volcanic areas into broader Mediterranean networks, and how this legacy can address present-day strategies for sustainable development and heritage management.