Programme

The course examines the history of Europe and the Mediterranean from a long-term perspective, combining the history of ideas with social and cultural history. Beginning with Federico Chabod's foundational reflection on the idea of Europe and its historical and political roots, the course introduces students to the historiographical frameworks underlying the construction of European identity. The perspective broadens through Lucien Febvre's approach, which embeds European history within an Annales-inspired longue durée framework. Significant attention is devoted to the Mediterranean as a shared historical space through Guillaume Calafat and Mathieu Grenet's volume, which offers a history of the sea as a place of encounter, exchange, and conflict among different civilisations and cultures. The picture is completed by an analysis of forced migrations and the refugee phenomenon in early modern Mediterranean Europe, addressed through Bruno Pomara Saverino's volume.

Core Documentation

First section: 'History of Europe: ideas, perspectives, reflections' (6 ECTS)

Reference books:

Lucien Febvre, L’Europa. Storia di una civiltà, Roma, Donzelli.
Federico Chabod, Storia dell’Idea d’Europa, Roma-Bari, Laterza.
Additional book for students who will not attend the lessons: Egidio Ivetic, Studiare la storia del Mediterraneo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2024


Second section: "The Mediterranean as a historiographical issue and as a space of connections'" (6 ECTS).

Reference books:

Guillaume Calafat e Mathieu Grenet, Mediterranei. Una storia delle mobilità umane (1492-1750), Roma, Viella, 2025 (ed. or. francese: Méditérranées. Une histoire des mobilités humaines (1492-1750), Paris, Editions Points, 2023).
Bruno Pomara Saverino, Rifugiati. I moriscos e l'Italia, Firenze, Firenze University Press, scaricabile gratuitamente dal sito: https://www.fupress.com/catalogo/rifugiati/3516

Those who only need to take 6 ECTS are required to study the first teaching unit.

Attendance

Attendance at lectures, while not compulsory, is strongly recommended, as classroom sessions and discussions provide essential support for understanding and critically interpreting the set texts. Non-attending students are required to study all the texts listed in the syllabus in full and are encouraged to contact the instructor to discuss any additional bibliographic requirements or to clarify the examination programme.

Type of evaluation

The examination is oral. Assessment takes into account knowledge of the course texts, the ability to contextualise the historical phenomena under discussion, and the capacity to draw thematic and chronological connections between the different authors and historiographical approaches covered during the course. Clarity of expression, command of historical vocabulary, and the ability to engage critically and independently with the course materials are also assessed.