A Genoese in Africa in the Fifteenth Century

CYCLE: Lost Horizons
SPEAKER: Antonio Musarra (Sapienza University of Rome)
DATE: October 6, 2025 - 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: VIVE - Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia, Sala del Refettorio (Palazzo Venezia)

In 1447, a Genoese merchant named Antonio Malfante wrote from Tuwāt, in the heart of the Sahara, an extraordinary letter that provides one of the earliest European insights into the gold and slave trades, revealing the deep interconnection between the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa. This unique text is not merely a travel account, but an open window onto worlds little known to Europeans at the time, shedding light on the meeting of economies, cultures, and powers that would reshape global history in the fifteenth century.

Antonio Musarra is Associate Professor of Medieval History at Sapienza University of Rome. His research focuses on Mediterranean, maritime and naval history, Franciscan history, and urban political history, with particular reference to the Genoese context. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular works, including Genova e il mare nel Medioevo (2015), Il grande racconto delle crociate (with Franco Cardini, 2019), L’isola che non c’è. Geografie immaginarie tra Mediterraneo e Atlantico (2023), L’assedio di Gerusalemme. 1099. I crociati conquistano la Città Santa (2025). He directs the Laboratory of Maritime and Mediterranean Societies History (SARAS, Sapienza).