Biography

Antonio Musarra earned his PhD in History from the University of San Marino (Republic of San Marino, 2012). He specializes in medieval Genoa, the Crusades, and Italian expansion in the medieval Mediterranean (11th to 15th centuries). His research interests include merchant networks, navigation, and naval warfare. He is the author of Genova e il mare nel Medioevo (2015) and In partibus Ultramaris. I Genovesi, la crociata e la Terrasanta (secc. XII-XIII)), forthcoming, and is currently completing a new book on the fall of Acre in 1291.

Project Summary

During the fifteenth century, Genoa, like the rest of Europe, was faced with the expansion of the Ottoman world. The city was one of the first Western powers who had close contact with the Ottomans. Scholars who have examined this issue have provided a convincing picture of economic relations between Genoa and the Ottomans, showing their stability also after the change of administration suffered from the colonies of the Black Sea. However, the history of these relations has often been reduced only to the economic aspects. Some diplomatic and literary texts show, instead, that in Genoa there was also a cultural interest for the Ottoman world. Through the analysis of these sources, my aim is to investigate cultural relations between Genoa and the Ottoman Empire during the century and explore how the gradual and reciprocal process of acculturation has affected diplomatic and economic relations, especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.