Mediterranean ports and literature. Minds as open as ports, in Amin Maalouf's novels

Blue Economy is a cornerstone of the Mediterranean culture and identity as it has provided a positive cultural impact shared between coastal societies. Stories and experiences, along with some concrete aspects of economy, recur in different narrations of the world, therefore in literature too. For example, economic themes recur throughout many of the novels of the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. These themes are so significant that they concur to the development of an actual system of values. This report illustrates some main passages of Maalouf's novels, focusing on suggestions and opinions drawn from Balthasar's Odyssey and Leo Africanus. This paper is complementary to the video presented by the author at Blue Planet Economy (BPE) European Maritime Forum 2021.