"The light, the colour, the horizon line are parameters for the perception of the Mediterranean. The key issue is how we can connect all the specific ways of perception which each of us necessarily has of the Mediterranean. All the different convergences need to reflect themselves and reverberate in the narratives, the rituals, the performances and oral traditions of our perception of one another. Perceiving the Mediterranean means to pursue a dialectical process in discovering the otherness of our counterparts at the other edge of the horizon which is not simply an aesthetic line. Using narrative forms of representation, literary, filmic and photographic media require modes of perceiving the Mediterranean that in comparison with perceived reality reveal fractures and contradictions – conflicting narratives. This book tries to offer different ways, topics and interdisciplinary methods, from medieval to recent times, to drive forward a mutual communication on Mediterranean issues."