Mediterranean - the " sea ​​between the lands " - crossroads of peoples, cultures, languages, religions, which have made it the beating heart of the Old World. To mark the history of the "great sea", the name with which it was known in the Jewish tradition, were not, only the climate, the winds or the currents, but the men (navigators, merchants, missionaries, condottieri, pilgrims), who, putting in contact the most remote regions of this vast basin, have made it "perhaps the most dynamic place of interaction between different societies on the face of the planet ". The Mediterranean massage, an art of millenary tradition, practiced by some Orthodox monks, is born precisely from the exchange and the influences occurring between different cultures. Anatripsis, so actually nicknamed by the monks of Mount Athos, has its origin from the integration of local methods with those brought by monks from Orthodox countries like Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Anatolia and so on . Today, this ancient, almost forgotten art is handed down by a few monks scattered between Asia Minor and the monastic republic of Mount Athos. Techniques such as pressure, friction, muscle strain, traction, joint mobilization make this massage dynamic and personalized. The real originality is the use of small wooden instruments that expert hands wisely use on contracted areas.

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