19/05/2026
The Via Querinissima has officially obtained the prestigious certification as a “Cultural Route of the Council of Europe”, one of the most important European recognitions dedicated to transnational cultural itineraries promoting shared heritage, intercultural dialogue, and cooperation across borders.
The route retraces the extraordinary fifteenth-century journey of the Venetian merchant Pietro Querini, whose shipwreck in the Lofoten Islands created an unexpected bridge between the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. Today, Via Querinissima connects places, archives, museums, landscapes, traditions, and communities across several European countries, transforming a historical voyage into a contemporary project of cultural exchange and shared memory.
The certification confirms the European significance of the initiative and acknowledges years of collaborative work carried out by an international network of institutions, universities, local authorities, and cultural associations. The official diploma award ceremony will take place during the Advisory Forum of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, scheduled from 22 to 25 September 2026 in Yerevan, Armenia.
Stefania Gialdroni serves on the Scientific Committee of the Via Querinissima project, contributing her expertise in medieval and early modern commercial law, mobility, and cultural exchanges across Europe.
The recognition resonates strongly with several of MICOLL’s core research themes: the circulation of merchants, legal practices, commercial languages, and cultural models across European spaces and maritime routes between North and South, East and West.
This new certification also confirms the growing importance of cultural routes as laboratories for interdisciplinary research, sustainable tourism, and public engagement capable of connecting academic work with wider European audiences.
