The extended program of the course foresees the study of the following topics:

Part One

Economic, social, political and cultural relations between the countries that border on the western and eastern shores in the context of the centuries-long life of the Mediterranean;
The reconstruction of the long history of the Mediterranean geo-historic space, center of irradiation and the cradle of ancient cultures and religions, characterized by exchanges and mingling, meetings and clashes, starting from the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453);
The "triumph" of Christianity in the Battle of Lepanto (October 7, 1571), the western propaganda of Philip II. Imperial Spain and the Mediterranean;
Formation and evolution of the modern state in the western Mediterranean;
The apogee of the "sublime Porta" in the 16thcentury;
The political, economic and social organization of the Ottoman Turkish imperial system; the Timar; the sultan and the formation of the ruling class; relations with the subjugated populations;
The characters of Mediterranean feudalism;
The Mediterranean divided;
The Mediterranean in the 18thcentury;
Colonial expansion in the Mediterranean;
The Mediterranean and the long process of European decolonization;
The birth of Israel and the Palestinian question; The Maghreb; The "Arab Springs". The Muslim world and the clash of civilizations.
The perspectives of the Mediterranean.

Part Two

The Turkish-Ottoman conquest of Constantinople,28 May 1453, capital of the Byzantine Empire and expression of a great civilization, heir to the culture of Rome;
Alexandria, Egypt, 1 July 1798: Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition;
Naples, 9 September 1943: the landing of the allies on the beaches of Campania;
Algiers, 10 August 1956: the beginning of a "battle" long denied.

Part three

Deepening of some important historical and geopolitical issues of the Mediterranean.