Border Island on the Crossroads of History

Dionigi Albera is Senior Research Fellow at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). His research interests include migration, domestic organisation, pilgrimage and interfaith mixing. He has co-edited several volumes with a Mediterranean focus such as Sharing Sacred Spaces in the Mediterranean: Christians, Muslims, and Jews at Shrines and Sanctuaries (Indian University Press, 2012), and New Pathways in Pilgrimage Studies (Taylor and Francis, 2016).

Reviews from the original Italian edition:“The author traces back the island’s history from medieval times to our own, along an itinerary that turns out to be full of surprises, from soldiers and crusaders, hermits and corsairs … intense and absorbing.” • Alex Corlazzoli in Il Fatto Quotidiano“Lampedusa is back. Once again, as in a distant past, a collective complexity comes together here from below and gives shape to an open island. Once again, as in the century of the Enlightenment, Lampedusa is here to challenge the European conscience.” • Mediterraneo

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction: The World-IslandChapter 1. A Desert IslandChapter 2. In Ariosto’s ArchipelagoChapter 3. The Virgin and the MaraboutChapter 4. The Enchantment of LampedusaChapter 5. The Travels of the VirginChapter 6. The Temple of Perfect ToleranceChapter 7. Hermits, Physiocrats and AdventurersChapter 8. The Myth Goes DormantConclusion: The Theatre of the FrontierReferences