BlackItaly. The Italian Peninsula and the Atlantic Slavery: A Forgotten History

It has long been assumed that the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula played a marginal role in the history of slavery in the Atlantic world. The Italian states of the early modern period had no colonies, and although some Italian merchants were involved in some way in the Atlantic slave trade, they were minor figures compared to foreign merchants or slave trading companies. As a result, according to the conventional narrative, Atlantic slavery had almost no impact on the history of the Italian peninsula, a belief that has had its consequences in dealing with racial issues to the present day.

BlackItaly’s main objective is to rethink this history and 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.