About Me....
Melina Elena Stylianou
The Yppokrates Project
Ancient Greece and Magna Graecia – great places with a great past! But will they also have a great future? I personally think yes! …thanks to a tourism based on physical and mental wellbeing scientifically studied in the great tradition of the ancient Greek physicians Hippocrates from the island of Kos and Diocles with his origins in Karystos on the island of Evia.
First, I would like to share with you a personal story, step by step, some aspects of the concept that I have been developing in recent years, first in Elea where the philosopher and physician Parmenides lived in the Magna Grecia of Southern Italy, with its roots in Evia according to one version, to simultaneously build a bridge with Ancient Greece where it all began.
The ambition is to develop a heritage-led tourism ecosystem that is in line with this concept and which creates the necessary conditions for good health by enhancing our immune system to better prevent from disease. It also aims to offer the respective digital and non-digital products and services, established on project activities such as mapping local assets, creating synergies, fostering cultural identity plus raising awareness and a sense of belonging along with a sense of responsibility for both locals and tourists.
People seem to have a profound need for harmony and relaxation when looking at a painting, beyond the more intense stimuli often sought in works of art in galleries. This is also the reason why I emphasize that I consider myself not as an Artist, but as an ArtDesigner. Before starting the design of an artwork, I am inspired by the particularity of the space and its people, so that my ArtDesign will be perfectly suited as a balanced decoration, aesthetically embracing and adding character to the environment and impart a sense of peacefulness to whomever is there.
We wish to feel compatibility and serenity in the spaces where we spend time or simply move through. The sense of attraction and of relaxation is greatly influenced by aesthetic stimuli, including authentic elements and the memories they hold within them. They give us the feeling that we belong somewhere, that we are part of something that is bigger than ourselves. This can be experienced in both private and commercial spaces, even when it comes to entering a room only for a short moment or to just passing by a shop window.
Biography
Intercultural background with Greek father and German mother, childhood and studies in Germany, summer holidays in Greece.
After graduating in Business Economics with specialization in Marketing and International Co-operation, I moved to Athens in 1994, initially for a year or two that actually became almost 17 years.
In the period from 2011 to 2018, I combined Germany and Italy as places for my personal and professional life.
In 2018, I realized my childhood dream of living in Italy whilst occasionally spending creative periods in Greece.
By mid-2022, I felt a strong yearning to get back to my Greek roots. This time I moved to the country side, in the charming port town of Karystos and origin of my Greek family.
The island of Evia seems to be the ideal place to continue the heritage related projects I began developing in Italy, the country that first awakened me to the importance of combining culture and tourism in the perspective of health enhancement.
Reviewing these different stages of my life, I can say that my
knowledge and experience in the tourism and culture sector, together with what I like to call an inherited creative vein, have definitely favoured my international projects dedicated to “Heritage Project & ArtDesign“. On a personal level, my various activities and involvements have favoured a maxim becoming more and more important for me: “Living and loving the perfect imperfect…”
