I’m an Italian PhD student at the University of Nottingham. My research explores the lives of women in the Greek island of Chios during the period of the Genoese domination (1346-1566).
Even though Genoa is my hometown and where I got my bachelor’s degree, my interest for its colony only came during my master’s degree at the University of Pisa.
My MA thesis at the University of Pisa investigated the distinctive composite society that resulted from the Genoese presence in the Greek island of Chios during their second occupation, from 1346 till the Turkish conquest in the 1566.
Starting from historical events and administrative, political and economic organization I obtained an outline of the period before focusing on the social aspects; notarial deeds showed the reality of a population composed by different races, religions, languages. The last part of the work studied the Latin inscriptions from the Genoese period found in the city of Chios, as they hadn't been studied in depth since the first decade of the XX century.
My interest however focused on notarial documents and the new insights they can still offer on a multitude of issues.
Thanks to the interest of the University of Nottingham and the economic support of M3C I’m trying to address the previously neglected topic of women’s lives in Chios.