« What hope do we have that the wounds of the Mediterranean can one day heal? Are we, humans, capable of deciding the future of our sea and, consequently, our own future? »
A logbook, a rigorous essay, a hymn to the beauty of the sea: a call we can no longer ignore.
The Mediterranean is the cradle of our civilization. If the Romans called it “our sea,” it later became the “middle sea” between two cultures. Traversed by gods and heroes, praised by poets and writers, the stage of bloody wars, crossed by trade, tourism, and migration routes, it remains today at the center of our discourse, the protagonist of current affairs.
The same cannot be said of its oldest inhabitants: sperm whales, fin whales, dolphins, seals, and sharks, among others. A population as varied as it is fragile, threatened by human activities that have violently disrupted the sea’s delicate natural balance.
Wonders of a Wounded Sea recounts an ideal voyage on a sailing boat—from Venice to Croatia, Rhodes to Alexandria in Egypt, Lampedusa to Spain—composing a mosaic of episodes and encounters that the author has experienced over half a century of scientific and activist navigation, research, and conservation.
It is a hymn to beauty that transforms into a call to action for all of us. For while witnessing the gradual degradation of the Mediterranean may spark indignation and outrage, knowing its extraordinary richness can help foster a collective commitment to ensure a future in which all its inhabitants—even non-human ones—can thrive.
