Diplosec 2026: The Mediterranean returns to the center of national security at Luiss University.

The Mediterranean is no longer seen as a mere geographical backdrop, but as the axis of foreign policy, national security, the maritime economy, critical infrastructure, and Italy's international presence. This is the underlying theme of the Luiss Diplomatic and Security Forum, Diplosec 2026, organized by the Luiss Center for International and Strategic Studies and hosted on June 11 at the Viale Romania campus in Rome. Adnkronos was the initiative's media partner. 

The Forum, now in its fourth year, brought together representatives from institutions, defense, diplomacy, academia, and business around a single idea: in the new global turmoil, the broader Mediterranean has become one of the main fault lines, but also one of the greatest opportunities for Italy. Energy and trade routes, seabed security, undersea cables, port infrastructure, migration, power competition, Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf, and the Indo-Pacific were all seen as part of the same picture. 

The meeting was opened by Paolo Boccardelli, rector of Luiss, who emphasized the university's role as a training ground for the country's ruling class and as a think tank for the country. The Mediterranean, he explained, is today "a new global geopolitical crossroads," where the interests and destinies of three continents intertwine. Not only risks and threats, therefore, but above all opportunities. 

This space encompasses issues crucial to Italy's security and strategic autonomy: energy, ecological transition, migration routes, logistics, supply chains, and digital. Boccardelli emphasized Europe's and Italy's dependence on external energy sources, particularly gas, linking energy to industrial competitiveness. Strategic autonomy, he noted, also concerns Europe's ability to continue generating wealth and sustaining its industrial base. 

The Mediterranean also features a dense network of undersea fiber optic cables, essential infrastructure for digital connectivity and data security. For this reason, the rector emphasized, the Mediterranean is a key hub for imagining the country's future. 

Raffaele Marchetti, director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Luiss and Diplosec, framed the Forum within a reflection on "national strategic choices." Diplosec, he explained, was created to provide a forum for discussion between institutions, the private sector, and experts, looking beyond emergencies and considering the medium to long term. 

For Marchetti, the first issue is one of identity. In recent decades, he said, Italy has partly forgotten its Mediterranean identity. Yet the country's history, from Rome to the maritime republics, has been marked by its ability to interpret and exploit the opportunities of the sea. The question, therefore, is political and cultural: what does Italy want to be in the Mediterranean? 

The Mediterranean presents obvious vulnerabilities, from Hormuz to Libya, from Israel to Gaza and Lebanon, but it also requires a rethinking of alliances. Marchetti called for consideration of the possibility of a partial American disengagement from the Euro-Mediterranean region and identified European strategic autonomy as the framework within which Italy should think, not to distance itself from the United States, but to focus on its own national interests. 

In his speech, Marchetti also cited a pre-feasibility study by the CISS for a tunnel between Sicily and Tunisia: a 140-kilometer, 300-meter-deep project, conceived as a multi-utility infrastructure for goods, people, data, and energy, complementary to the bridge over the Strait. Not a simple engineering project, he explained, but a concrete answer to the question of what role Italy wants to play in the Mediterranean of the future. The goal, in his view, is to become the "Mediterranean champion of Europe," a necessary player for the Union's southern projection. 

The military and systemic dimension of security was the focus of General Luciano Portolano's remarks, Chief of the Defense Staff. Portolano posed a preliminary question: what is Italy's strategic concept of security? From there, he explained, a national strategic plan, individual ministry planning, and a coherent military strategy should emerge. 

For the Chief of the Defense Staff, speaking of the strategic Mediterranean means discussing geography, international outreach, economics, energy and trade routes, but also the protection of critical infrastructure. Portolano emphasized the concept of the broader Mediterranean: not just the Mediterranean basin in the narrow sense, but an area connecting southern Europe to North Africa, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. 

What happens in seemingly distant spaces, he observed, directly impacts Italian security, the continuity of supplies, the protection of infrastructure, and the state's ability to guarantee freedom, prosperity, and cohesion. 

The general identified three main dynamics: hypercompetition, widespread instability, and technological acceleration. In the new multipolar context, global powers and regional players are constantly, rapidly, and asymmetrically competing for control of markets, technologies, and resources. International organizations are struggling to manage crises, and the rules of international law are under pressure. 

Portolano highlighted the overlap between traditional tools and new capabilities: artillery, armored vehicles, and naval launchers coexist with satellite networks, drones, cybersecurity, electromagnetic spectrum interference, information manipulation, disinformation, and economic pressure. These tools are often low-cost, but they can produce profound effects: distrust, polarization, disorientation, delayed decision-making, and the erosion of internal cohesion. 

The Mediterranean, he recalled, is a major artery of world trade, and its seabed is home to gas pipelines, power lines, and fiber optic cables. Damaging those networks, he summarized, would mean "shutting down entire economies." 

Hence the need to move beyond a compartmentalized understanding of security. Economy, development, and the civilian and military dimensions can no longer be addressed separately. National security must become a pillar of resilience and the country's overall stability, involving universities, industry, public administration, the media, and citizens. 

The Armed Forces, Portolano explained, have initiated a process of adaptation, with a national military strategy that identifies the broader Mediterranean as the military's geographic focus. In the broader Mediterranean, the Italian Defense Ministry is engaged in 30 missions and operations, with over 5.200 personnel, compared to approximately 7.400 personnel deployed abroad. 

"National security isn't limited to the physical defense of our borders alone," Portolano warned. Protecting Italian interests means ensuring regional stability, preserving energy and data flows, safeguarding maritime traffic, critical infrastructure, production capacity, decision-making processes, and democratic relations. The challenge, he concluded, is systemic: "Either we win together as a country system, or we risk becoming irrelevant." 

Angelino Alfano, president of the Luiss Institute for International Studies (CISS) and former Foreign Minister, led the discussion with Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Alfano described the Mediterranean as a small sea compared to the oceans, but crucial in world history: the birthplace of the three monotheistic religions, a crossroads of major trade flows, the theater of wars that have changed history, and today both a space for possible peace and an epicenter of global instability. 

The Mediterranean, he observed, is home to asymmetric challenges, such as migration and terrorism, but it also represents part of Italy's future. Alfano emphasized the importance of interreligious dialogue, security, and economic diplomacy, emphasizing how crucial exports are to the Italian system. The Mediterranean, in his view, is the place where Italy can be strongest in Europe, precisely because it is capable of reaching out to the south. 

Tajani summarized the argument with a clear formula: "For us, the Mediterranean cannot help but be the past, the present, and the future." Italy is immersed in a sea now troubled by wars, instability, African and Middle Eastern crises, migratory flows, and competition between powers. The goal, he explained, must be to transform it into a great opportunity. 

For the minister, the Mediterranean must become a great sea of ​​trade, connecting Europe to Africa. Major maritime corridors, trans-European networks connected to trans-African networks, maritime motorways, energy, electricity, gas, oil, and port hubs are all part of the same strategy. 

Tajani insisted on the need to raise the issue of the southern flank both at European and NATO levels. He said it's not enough to focus on the eastern front while underestimating the southern one. Africa faces the growing presence of China, Russia, and Iran, the jihadist threat, humanitarian crises like the one in Sudan, migration, and instability. 

In this context, the Mediterranean extends to the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, and connects to the Imec corridor between India, the Middle East, and Europe, with Trieste indicated as a potential logistics and trade hub. The crises in Lebanon, Gaza, Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz, he noted, directly impact energy, food security, and fertilizers. 

The minister linked foreign policy, economic diplomacy, and military presence. The Navy in the Red Sea, he explained, allows Italian merchant ships to pass from the Mediterranean to Suez and on to Asia. A key part of Italy's commercial maritime traffic passes through that route. Therefore, security and defense spending should also be seen as protecting exports and national interests. 

The Armed Forces, according to Tajani, are instruments of foreign and commercial policy: from their presence in the Balkans to their presence in Niger, from the training of North African coast guards to the protection of Cyprus. Regular migration, agreements with countries of origin, and the fight against human traffickers are all part of the same approach. 

Tajani identified Italy as Africa's privileged interlocutor for Europe and the West. "What Italy can do in this part of the world, no one else can," he said, evoking the positive perception of Italians in Africa, the Middle East, Lebanon, and Palestine. The goal is to act as a bridge between Europe and Africa, building joint ventures on raw materials, processing them locally, and creating jobs and non-neocolonial relationships. 

In the session dedicated to the Mediterranean as a strategic priority for Italy, Nello Musumeci, Minister of Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, prioritized culture over infrastructure. Italy, he stated, is unaware of being a maritime country. According to a survey commissioned by the ministry from the Demopolis Institute, over 60% of Italians consider Italy a "landscaped" country. A paradox, he observed, for a nation with approximately 8.000 kilometers of coastline and a history marked by Rome, the maritime republics, and its ports. 

Musumeci distinguished between cities "with ports" and cities "of ports." In the former, the sea remains a backdrop; in the latter, it shapes culture, economy, and civilization. The government's goal, he said, must be to transform cities with ports into cities of ports. 

Today, the Mediterranean, according to Musumeci, is a sick sea, plagued by pollution, abandoned fishing nets, plastic on the seabed, spills, rivers discharging pollutants, global warming, alien species, and coastal erosion. Italy matters globally, he added, if it can establish itself as a leading player in the Mediterranean. Geographical centrality is not enough: it must become political, economic, and cultural. 

Hence the port reform approved by the government and submitted to Parliament, with the aim of defining a unified strategy that respects the specificities of individual ports. Without a strategy, he warned, there is a risk of having ports that wait and not ports that act. Competition means electrified docks, digitalization of processes, reduction of bureaucracy, intermodality, and connections with the hinterland. 

Musumeci championed the maritime plan as Italy's first planning and coordination tool dedicated to the sector, with 18 objectives to be achieved over the years. He also emphasized the need to develop professional skills: the maritime economy requires thousands of specialized professionals, and technical institutes should increasingly integrate blue economy-related programs. 

Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, Chief of Staff of the Navy, completed the discussion on the maritime and military dimension. For the admiral, talking about the Mediterranean or the Greater Mediterranean today risks being reductive: in an interconnected world, even a small crisis anywhere on the globe has almost immediate repercussions everywhere. The example of this is Hormuz: tensions in the Strait have led to rising prices for oil, gas, fertilizers, and food products. 

Berutti Bergotto noted that Italy imports much of its needs and finished products by sea. If the transport routes are not safe and usable, the country faces a problem. After the crisis in the Red Sea, traffic from Suez has significantly decreased, with effects also on Italian ports. This is where the Navy comes into play. To be relevant, it must be present in the areas necessary to defend the national strategy and must be connected: with allies, partners, technological systems, and industry. 

Particular attention was paid to the underwater domain. For years, the admiral observed, depth was associated with security. Today, this is no longer the case: state and non-state actors can operate even at 3.000 meters, with commercially available technologies at relatively low costs. Furthermore, the Mediterranean is a shallow sea: only a limited portion exceeds 3.000 meters. This makes critical infrastructure located on the seabed vulnerable, from electricity and telecommunications cables to oil and gas pipelines. 

Berutti Bergotto then shifted attention from technological means to the human factor. A credible Navy, he explained, requires not only advanced platforms, but also trained, motivated, and mission-oriented crews. The emerging navies of the Gulf and Indo-Pacific look to the Italian Navy not only for its equipment, but also for its training. Personnel, according to the admiral, is even more important than ever: the crew alone transforms a platform into an operational force. 

A common understanding emerges from Luiss: the Mediterranean is not a periphery, but the center of Italy's new security. It is a space of crisis and trade, a sea of ​​wars and connectivity, a route for energy and data, a border and a bridge. For Italy, the issue is no longer simply being geographically at the center of the Mediterranean, but deciding whether to transform that position into strategy. 

(Adnkronos)