The expanded Mediterranean basin presents today considerable challenges for regional and extra-regional actors, from a geopolitical, security, economic, infrastructural and energy perspective. Since 2011, with the outbreak of the so-called Arab Springs and the emergence of crisis and instability in many theatres of the region, the Mediterranean has become a meeting place, as well as an arena of confrontation, of numerous and diversified interests by a plurality of actors, who want to pursue their strategies and agendas to strengthen their position in the region. The conflicts in Syria and Libya, the renewed Russian military activism, the growth of Turkish influence, and the competition for energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean are just some of the main trends that characterize and define the changes and processes underway in the area. In this context, the Italian Navy has always played an important role in protecting and defending Italian national interests. In the context of the intensification of geopolitical, security and technological challenges and the emergence of new ones, the project aims to understand and analyze what role the Italian Navy can play in the expanded Mediterranean, with a post-2035 time horizon.

More specifically, the project, implemented in collaboration with the Italian Navy General Staff, is structured along two lines. The first one foresees the organization of a series of workshops and round tables, in order to stimulate the debate and to involve relevant stakeholders and experts in the discussion. The second one consists of the drafting of a report that, starting from the analysis of the evolution of the geopolitical and military contexts and reflecting on the issues discussed in the workshops, highlights the operational requirements of the Italian Navy in the coming decades.