The new Silk Road could restore the eastern coast of the Italian peninsula to its strategic role as a gateway to the East. Also known in the past as sinus, inlet or gulf, the Adriatic is the maritime corridor that united Europe and the Levant for over a millennium thanks to the Byzantine Empire. Later on the Serenissima Republic of Venice established itself as a commercial superpower by expanding its relations with Asia and the Middle East. Today, the Gulf of Venice and in general the North Adriatic area could play a strategic role again in the new world order thanks to China’s plan to move most of the goods from the polluting large merchant ships that transit the Suez Canal to the new Silk Road, connecting over seventy countries by land to the port of Trieste. Rather than a new scenario, it would be a return to being the eastern gateway that the Adriatic had been since the time of Marco Polo. The new Silk Road, however, also offers an opportunity to reflect on urbanisation along the Middle and Upper Adriatic coastline and the idea of  “Adriatic city”, which is not new. Urbanisation along the Adriatic ridge remains a possible and mostly unfinished project, a frontier between the old European continent and the opportunities offered by the new Asian powers.

Manuel Orazi is an Historian of Architecture and a teacher. He works for the publishing house Quodlibet where is the editor of the architecture titles. Orazi studied at the IUAV University of Venice and obtained a PhD in History of Architecture and of the City. He has taught at the Universities of Camerino, Bologna, Ferrara and Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio (USI), and has been collaborating with the magazines such as Domus, Log and Abitare. Together with Marco Vanucci, Orazi coordinates the Visiting School for the Architectural Association “Adriatica. Local Structures for a New World Order” this year based in Pesaro (August 22 – September 2).