What does it mean to look at Sicily as a threshold of the Mediterranean?
This question was at the heart of a study abroad programme developed by MADE in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, which brought a group of students to Palermo and western Sicily to explore the island as a place shaped by centuries of encounters between Europe, North Africa and the wider Mediterranean.
Rather than approaching the Mediterranean simply as a geographical border, the programme invited students to understand it as a living space of exchange, movement, conflict, memory and belonging. Through direct engagement with places, landscapes and communities, Sicily became a lens through which to investigate the complex relationships between territory, history and contemporary life.
Over two weeks, students explored different aspects of the island’s Mediterranean identity through lectures, site visits, walks, encounters and shared experiences. Arab-Norman architecture, mosaics, qanats, agricultural landscapes, markets, places of worship, food traditions and migrant communities became entry points for understanding how histories of movement and cultural exchange remain present in the territory and continue to shape the lives of its communities.
The programme also looked at heritage not simply as something inherited from the past, but as something continuously reinterpreted and transformed. By moving across different landscapes and engaging with their material, social and cultural dimensions, students were encouraged to question established narratives and develop their own perspectives on Sicily and the Mediterranean.
The experience brought together academic inquiry, field research and situated encounters, creating a learning environment that extended beyond the classroom. It offered students the opportunity to engage directly with the complexities of a territory where different histories, identities and forms of belonging meet, overlap and sometimes come into tension.
