In the 14th century, Mogadishu appeared as one of the most beautiful and flourishing cities in the Horn of Africa, full of urban decorum, luxurious palaces and characteristic neighbourhoods, built with typical madreporic rock and mangrove lintels, in a style similar to that of Zanzibar. The inhabitants were courteous and lovers of the good life, as well as ‘good eaters’.

Today, Mogadishu looks like a collection of ruins, only partly clumsily restored, through which one can barely catch a glimpse of its former glory. But like the Phoenix, the city wishes, now more than ever, to rise from its own ashes.