The course proposes a journey in the Mediterranean, with special focus on Greece and Turkey, but also travel through time. In fact ancient cities and archeological sites, from the hills of Troy to the archeological sites of Pergamon and Ephesus, to the cities of Athens and Costantinople/Istambul, will be studied not so much as signs of the important Greek and Roman past of the region, but as the object of late Eighteenth and Nineteenth century rediscovery. The rich vestiges of the mythical past of this region were then brought to the light, in the frame of complex and adventurous missions. The eyes of scholars, travelers and artists filtered and transformed the reality of the ancient objects and places, adding to their fascination and vitality and changing the way we perceive this legacy today. At the same time though, a new political agenda, new biases and new aims were connected with the rediscovery. These in turn influenced not only the way the past of the region was explored and the way the finds were studied and exposed, but also the cultural debate in the rest of Europe, with important effects on the architecture of the main European cities.