Riyadh – Latif is 23 years old and has traveled 4,000 kilometers to Palermo from Mafraq, the northern province of Jordan. Latif’s dream is to continue his studies in Italy and maybe work there. Joseph, in his pocket, has a degree in architecture and in October he will leave for Jordan. Latif and Giuseppe share a passion: after graduation they began to study “Islamic architecture in the cities of the Mediterranean”, a highly specialized course sponsored by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the National Museum of the Arts of the XXI Century of Rome and in partnership between the University of Palermo and Al Al-Bayt University in Mafraq, Jordan, considered among the most prestigious universities in Asia. With them in Sicily, some students came from Turkey, Greece, Tunisia and Egypt. The course of studies arises from the need to exploit the centrality of Sicily within the Mediterranean to deepen the themes of architecture, art and the Islamic city. The aim is to form new professional figures who can read and interpret Islamic culture with a Western view. The Sicilian coursers will fly to Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia in October, to expose to Prince Sattām b.’Abd al-‘Azīz a research on the Islamic city of Abha on the Red Sea. (9colonne)
