Progress in Marine Science and Technology 3 NAUTICAL AND MARITIME CULTURE, FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Nautical and Maritime Culture

The ICNM conference, organized by “Associazione Italiana di Tecnica Navale” (ATENA), is one of the major Italian scientific events on maritime and nautical culture. The conference covers all the conceptual and theoretical aspects connected to the research in engineering, history, architecture, economic, and social sciences fields. Since the dawn of history, the sea connects and divides human societies. However, its boundaries have never been insuperable barriers for man. Nowadays as well as in the past, human beings cut through the sea to discover, inhabit and connect the entire known world. In order to face the sea, they develop increasingly ingenious and innovative technological solutions. On the seashore, they build up cities, ports, increasing the productive capacity and establishing new commercial and political relations. At sea, the essence of human evolution is still expressed and sublimated, despite the virtual interconnection of the modern world: the constant tension towards the unknown and the attempt to go beyond the knowledge limits. This is a path marked by discoveries, failures and transitions, that are the milestones of the secular man-sea relationship. The ICNM conference has the aim of promoting the dialogue between scholars, professionals, and those who are involved, with their particular skills, in research, development, and enhancement of sea culture.