Continuing the “Bridge for Cities” project, UNIDO ITPO and Manus Loci are introducing a photography and digital exhibit featuring the “Silk Road Initiative”.

The sea, the ideas, the goods. They are the essential elements of trade and progress, that shape a sustainable, human and industrial future. The work of people in distant ports, speaking different languages but sharing the same daily chores, helps carry it on.

TRIESTE. SHANGHAI. Ports of two cities that are pillars of the same bridge. They are united by a path known as the Silk Road: a road of communication and exchange, a road for travel and hope. Shanghai means Towards-the-Sea, while Trieste has the word Market in its etymology. A market open to the sea that draws strength, value and experience from different lands.

TRIESTE-SHANGHAI represents this market open to the sea, and even more, a bridge uniting two cities widely different, but with much in common. TRIESTE-SHANGHAI’s historical connection reflects a simple concept: it’s just not the trade of goods, but the exchange of ideas that delivers progress. Two port cities that are metaphorically identical share the genuine cosmopolitan spirit of people of the sea, wayfarers, workers, and progress builders. 

Going back and forth between these ports, ships loaded with containers, masterpieces of simple engineering, hold materialized ideas, commonly called products. They are then carried by ingeniously designed robust machines with wheels or hulls. Humans and machines work together, supporting the trade of ideas. It is in fact the exchange of ideas, more than goods, that will ultimately guarantee progress, and what we want to call Our Future.

diVERSO IL MARE is an immersive experience, a tale of ports and humanity. 

diVERSO IL MARE will transport visitors through the road where ideas are traveling safely, yet freely.