The Mediterranean Sea has been navigated for millennia, carrying a profound history and significance deeply rooted in the blood of the cultures surrounding it. To the ancient Romans it was mare nostrum - our sea – and even today, to those living along its shores it is still affectionately known that way. She is the immense blue, mostly serene, sometimes severe, that wraps the people in her arms and binding together these diverse worlds. Amidst these salty lands of lemon, fish, olives and wine skirting the vast marine expanse, there are striking differences and yet striking similarities as well. The Mediterranean climate creates a sweetness, a softness, and a love of life in the citizens living along its shores. Perhaps a person from the French Côte d’Azurhas more kinship with someone living on the Italian Costa Amalfitana or the Spanish Costa Brava than with a compatriot from the north of France!

And yet, there are differences. The language for sure is a prominent divider, although they are all stem from...