With the Adriatic maritime pilgrimages serving as an archetype, we define maritime pilgrimages as those particular annual rites of veneration that include the translocation of sacred objects, people or both over water (including symbolical enactment) as a part of the ritual structure. Our hypothesis is that maritime pilgrimages have become anchors for local communities bringing together displaced members of the community and sustaining transnational ties. Moreover, with the development of tourism, maritime pilgrimages may have also been reinvented as one more, or in some cases the main, local tourist attraction.

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This study hypothesizes that these diverse interests may have been encouraged by globalization and that local pilgrimage practices may have evolved toward more secular and popular manifestations directed to “heritagization”. One of the ideas of this project is to gather local knowledge form the native point of view based on ethnographic research, frame it within historical background and new archival sources, contextualize with GIS methodology trying to observe these religious and cultural practices within their, very important, geographical context of the seascape and island, conduct a tourism study that will be produced based on a survey research and the organization of the focus groups.

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Following that, the project participants will produce a study that should indicate a sustainable development of these locations and practices in order to enable local community to benefit from maritime pilgrimage as a resource for keeping the community alive, but on the other hand, keeping the tourism impact on realistic levels in order not to irretrievable destroy these locations and practices. Provide a better understanding of the formation and adoption of religious practices within very specific historical and geographical context. And, define the main characteristics of maritime pilgrimages and establish a point of reference for future maritime pilgrimage research.