KETOS – Centro Euromediterraneo del Mare e dei Cetacei (KETOS – Euromediterranean Center for the Sea and Cetaceans), Taranto

The Ketos Center guarantees an active presence in the ancient village of Taranto, through workshops, meetings and cultural events aimed at creating relationships and contributing to the creation of a new narrative of the city which has the sea as its protagonist. Ketos represents a cultural container aimed at regenerating and encouraging the development of knowledge and the valorisation of local resources, as well as a safeguard of good practices and a point of reference for the blue economy. Ketos offers innovative opportunities: from scientific research to educational-museum services, from the development of new employment opportunities to the promotion of reading and the cultural heritage of identity linked to the sea. Born thanks to the support of the "Fondazione con il Sud" through the "Historical-artistic and cultural" tender, the Ketos Center occupies the rooms of Palazzo Amati, one of the most prestigious eighteenth-century buildings overlooking the sea of Taranto. Ketos is the Euro-Mediterranean Citizen Science Center which deals with the promotion of the sea and cetaceans, through training, educational, scientific research and environmental communication activities. The Jonian Dolphin Conservation took care of the recovery of the property on the ground floor, its refunctionalisation, its activation and currently manages the structure, ensuring its full use by the wider public. Ketos represents a unique example in the national context, as it enhances the peculiar, now ten-year experience of the Jonian Dolphin Conservation, which represents excellence in scientific research on cetaceans and in the management of marine projects with particular focus on the study of environmental impact. At the same time it represents a cultural container aimed at encouraging the development of knowledge and the valorisation of local resources. Ketos is a safeguard of good practices, a point of reference for the blue economy and a symbol of regeneration in the context of the old city of Taranto. Ketos is revolutionary in the innovative scope of its offer: from scientific educational-museum services to the possibility of using services linked to innovative methods of using content through advanced technologies, to consultancy in the sectors of scientific research on cetaceans. Furthermore, it offers the possibility of hosting contemporary artistic research experiences, of hosting important initiatives or those with social purposes aimed at the neighborhood, and, acting as a real incubator, it promotes all activities aimed at valorising the material and intangible cultural heritage linked to the sea, the old city and local traditions. At the same time, it looks to the international dimension and encourages the creation of networks and the development of projects with important European stakeholders.

The project was born from the sharing, started before the tender, of a Manifesto of the Old City and the Sea, which is proposed as a space for reflection and proposal regarding the role, potential and future of the ancient village of Taranto. Following the reflections between the organizations adhering to the manifesto, the project aims to establish a 'Euro-Mediterranean Sea and Cetacean Center' at Palazzo Amati, structured in such a way as to perform different functions: a museum area, an area offering tourist services, a space open to start-ups, social entrepreneurship and a virtual library on the sea. The actions proposed to the beneficiaries will therefore concern entrepreneurial, cultural and recreational activities, aimed at relaunching the tourist vocation of the ancient village through the 'Jonian Dolphin Center' and consequently triggering economic mechanisms for the rebirth of the neighbourhood. At the same time, the center will host a virtual library of the sea, open to the children of the neighborhood and the 'Officine Amati', a space for social and entrepreneurial innovation, linked to the birth of the Amati Manifatture. ***PH***