Alcune note sulla descrizione dell’Italia politica nel Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār di al-‘Umarī (1340 ca.)

The article analyses a short text taken from the Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār, written by Šihāb al-Dīn b. Faḍl Allāh al-‘Umarī (1301-1349) for the chancellery of the Mamluk sultans. Al-‘Umarī obtained part of his information from a Genoese he met in prison: in part, the description of the peninsula mirrors his testimony. More than political relations, he seems interested in the leading Italian realities’ institutional structures and military forces. His interest is predominantly diplomatic, although the military concern is not alien to him. The peculiarity of the text, not yet underlined, lies in the mention of the Italian term ‘comune’, transliterated into Arabic («kumūn»), which the author uses to refer to a type of political order other than the monarchy, typical of the cities of central and northern Italy.