Ragusa to host international maritime history conference

The IX International Conference of Studies, titled ‘Sea Routes from the Ancient to the Pre-modern World’, is scheduled to take place in Ragusa on October 3 and 4, 2026. Promoted by the Laboratorio degli Annali di Storia alongside various universities and scientific institutions, the event focuses on the sea as a space of relationship, transformation, and connection between distant cultures.

Under the scientific direction of historian Carlo Ruta, the conference will examine how maritime technologies, ships as material devices, and symbolic systems allowed societies to navigate vast distances from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. A central theme includes the concept of the ship as a machine and its role in facilitating the exchange of knowledge, migrations, and cultural transformations throughout history.