There are said to be more ships at the bottom of the sea than there are above. Certainly, the submarine heritage is immense and at the University of Sassari underwater archeology is a teaching envisaged in the master's degree course in Sciences of cultural heritage and in the courses of the post-graduate specialization school at the Oristano site.

“It is a path that concerns the deepening of underwater archaeological disciplines, coastal landscapes and the history of navigation”, explains teacher Pier Giorgio Spanu .

The wrecks and treasures at the bottom of the sea are a heritage to be rediscovered, protected and above all to be valued. So recently the National Superintendence for underwater heritage was established with headquarters in Taranto. The body, led by Barbara Davidde, is currently defining the representation in the regions but in the meantime it has started the activity of protection and cataloging of the submerged heritage.

Among the projects underway, one directly affects Sardinia : it is called Amphitrite , like the queen goddess of the sea, and concerns the enhancement of cultural heritage in the Capo Testa-Punta Falcone area . The University of Sassari was asked to collaborate on this project, presented in Santa Teresa di Gallura at the end of last July. Underwater archaeologists are then engaged in excavations abroad; only a few years ago the Sassari researchers and the students of the Oristano graduate school discovered in Tunisia , in the Gulf of Hammamet, the traces of Iulia Neapolis , one of the largest Roman cities in Africa, submerged in the fourth century AD due to a devastating earthquake. A city emerged with its lattices of thistles and decumani, extending for about twenty hectares, and then a series of tanks used for the processing of fish to be transported in terracotta amphorae in the Mediterranean.

Despite the successes of underwater archaeologists , there are difficulties : “We are a bit stuck in research”, says Spanu, “due to the slowdown in funding. During the Covid period there was a stop, now let's start again. Unfortunately, even underwater archaeological research is regulated by ministerial concessions and this complicates things: we cannot have more than three directions of excavation ”.

The degree course was much appreciated by young people but now enrollments have decreased: "This is a physiological decline", explains Pier Giorgio Spanu, "there are fewer students because ours is a specialization school and the number of graduates ".

Alfredo Franchini

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