Stefano Nicastro

Thesis title: Genoa in the Islamicate Mediterranean: Egyptian-Genoese Commercial and Diplomatic Relationships in Alexandria (Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries).

Background

I studied history as an undergraduate at the University of Milan (Italy), and I spent a semester abroad via the Erasmus programme at the Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi in Istanbul (Türkiye). Subsequently, I completed a MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic at the University of Edinburgh, and I further studied Arabic in Egypt at the International House Cairo – ILI. I am currently a history PhD Student at the University of Edinburgh funded by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology (HCA) Doctoral Scholarship. During my PhD, I have been Ralegh Radford Rome awardee at the British School at Rome (BSR) and Royal Historical Society (RHS) Marshall Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), University of London.

Qualifications

MA (Hons.) in History, University of Milan.

MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic, University of Edinburgh.

Responsibilities & affiliations

2021-2023  – President of the Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies Society (LAIBS), University of Edinburgh.

2021-2023 – Committee member of the Edinburgh Early Modern Network (EEMN), University of Edinburgh.

Undergraduate teaching

2022-2023 – Medieval Worlds: A Journey through the Middle Ages (Undergraduate Course).

2021-2022 – Medieval Worlds: A Journey through the Middle Ages (Undergraduate Course).

2020-2021 – Early Modern History: A Connected World (Undergraduate Course).

Research summary

Diplomatic and economic relationships between the commune of Genoa and the Mamluk sultanate.

Administrative practices and cross-cultural interactions in Alexandria, Egypt.

Movements of people, goods and ideas across the Mediterranean.

Current research interests

My work aims to deepen and re-evaluate our understanding of Mamluk-Genoese exchanges.

Invited speaker

2024 - Crusades and the Latin East, Institute of Historical Research (IHR), University of London (26 February). ‘Practices of Trans Mediterranean Exchanges in the Later Middle Ages: The Genoese Funduq in Alexandria.’

Organiser

2021 - 5th Annual Edinburgh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies, University of Edinburgh: ‘Sites of Encounter and Cultural Exchange (500-1500 CE)’. Co-organised with Samuel Azzopardi, Chiara Fabrici, Alice Greenwood, Kieran Hagan and Ethan Schmidt . Keynote Speakers: Leonora Neville (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Alison Vacca (Columbia University).

Participant

2024 - The Eighth International Conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean (SMM), University of Edinburgh (24-27 June). ‘Egyptian-Genoese Relationships in Mamluk Alexandria: Fictional and Historical Records (Thirteenth-Fifteenth Century)’.

2019 - 3rd Edinburgh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies, University of Edinburgh (22-23 November). ‘Islamic Perceptions of Genoa in Fourteenth Century Arabic Literature’. 

Papers delivered

2024 - ECR Symposium, Institute of Historical Research (IHR), University of London (18 January). ‘The Genoese funduq in Alexandria (twelfth-fifteenth centuries)’.

2023 - Award Holders Talks, British School at Rome (BSR) (2-3 October). ‘Diplomatic and Commercial Relationships between the Commune of Genoa and the Mamluk Sultanate: Practices and Modalities’.

2021 - Pre-Modern Migrations: Communities, Ideas and Materials on the Move, University of Edinburgh (30 November). ‘Genoa and Mamluk Egypt: Return of Captives in Fourteenth Century Alexandria’.

2021 - Medieval Mediterranean Exchanges Workshop, Woolf Institute, Cambridge (9 October). 'Genoa in the Middle Ages: The Use of Arabic Sources to Reconstruct the History of a Latin City'.