ARCHAEOSAFE: first transnational meeting in Lecce to safeguard coastal

ARCHAEOSAFE: first transnational meeting in Lecce to protect coastal archaeological sites

On 24 April 2026, the Sala della Grottesca at the Rectorate of the University of Salento hosted the first Transnational Monitoring Meeting of ARCHAEOSAFE (Archaeological Safety and Risk Management for Coastal and Underwater Heritage), funded by the Interreg IPA South Adriatic 2021-2027 programme.

The six consortium partners from Italy, Montenegro and Albania met with representatives of the Managing Authority and the Joint Secretariat to review progress and plan upcoming activities.

ARCHAEOSAFE has a total budget of €1,154,076.87 (including €943,290.18 of IPA III co-financing) and runs for 30 months until December 2027. The project aims to create shared monitoring and emergency response tools for cultural sites exposed to climate risks.

• Main goals: development of the ER4CSS system (Emergency Response ICT System for Cultural Sites’ Safeguarding), integrating BIM-GIS technologies, environmental simulation models and early warning tools.
• Operational plan: data and simulations will feed the JER-CS Plan, a joint emergency response plan for pilot sites.
• Key roles: scientific coordination by the University of Salento and climate modelling by CMCC.

Partners include CMCC (Italy), IMTM (Montenegro), the Municipality of Kotor (Montenegro), the ICAA (Albania) and Fondazione Turismo e Cultura Molise (Italy); the Italian Superintendency for Underwater Cultural Heritage is an associated partner.

Italian pilot sites mentioned include the Archaeological Park of Saturo in Leporano, the Submerged Sarcophagi of the King in Manduria (Taranto), the fishing village of Termoli and the Costa dei Delfini in Molise, alongside sites in Montenegro and Albania. The project aims to equip local authorities with predictive tools and real-time response capabilities to safeguard cultural assets threatened by erosion, sea-level rise and extreme weather events.