BlackItaly
The project is funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research as part of the FIS 1 Call (FIS 00003030; CUP D53C23002720001).
BlackItaly’s main objective is to reveal the strong connection between the Italian peninsula and the Atlantic slave system from the late mid-15th century, when sub-Saharan slaves began to reach Western Europe through the new Atlantic routes, until the second half of the 19th century and the sunset of the abolitionist debate.
By investigating the involvement of merchants, bankers or investors from the Italian peninsula in the Atlantic slave system, by uncovering the stories of black African slaves who lived in different cities and provinces of the peninsula, and by collecting the main ideas that circulated in favor of or against Atlantic slavery and the slave trade, BlackItaly aims to place the Italian peninsula in a global context and to consider the emergence of racial categories as a long-term phenomenon closely linked to the Atlantic experience, thus going beyond the Italian colonial experience in Africa and fascism
News
Connectors From the Italian Peninsula and the Evolution of Global Human Trafficking
Il 22 Aprile 2026 Catia Brilli terrà il seminario dal titolo "Connectors From the Italian Peninsula and the Evolution of Global Human Trafficking" presso il Dipartimento di Storia dell'Università di Macao,
Read the newsBlackness and Islam among enslaved North Africans in 18th-century Mediterranean Europe. Seminar by M’hamed Oualdi
FBK-ISIG Tavola Ovale di Storia moderna Slavery in the Mediterranean, from ancient times through the abolition era, is often thought to have been mostly unaffected by racial issues. It is usually considered to have been, above all, shaped by religious divides: men and women were enslaved according to their religious affiliation. But at the same time, in this type of slavery, dark-skinned enslaved men and women were often in the most subordinate positions compared to other dominated groups. Can historical studies on race help to shed light on this Mediterranean slavery, or conversely, can the Mediterranean case provide a different understanding of racialization processes during the early modern period?,
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