The work established since 1990 at the Florentine Archives called the Medici Archive Project has resulted in the study of an immense number of unpublished sources on the Grand Ducal period in Tuscany (1537–1743). The Grand Ducal Medici and the Levant includes the proceedings of “I Medici e il Levante: Culture e dialoghi tra Firenze e il Mediterraneo orientale,” hosted at the Florentine State Archive in June 2013. This volume focuses on various themes concerning the political, economic, and social relations between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Ottoman Levant. Given the severe lack of studies on the subject, this volume will be of interest to all scholars devoted to studying the Mediterranean. Moreover, this book shows the roles of the Italian peninsula and the grand duke in the political and economic interplay between East and West.

The volume includes an introduction (English), more than sixty illustrations, and fifteen chapters (English and Italian) divided into four different sections: “Diplomatic and Economic Connections,” “Conflicts in a Mediterranean Perspective,” “Perceiving and Representing the ‘Other,’” and “Material Culture: Imported Objects and Transmission of Knowledge.” The first section focuses on the diplomatic struggle between the Medici, who sought trade privileges from Constantinople, and Florence's economic competitors in the Levant—namely, Venice, Spain, and France. Prestini and Özden Mercan present the diplomatic approaches, while Varriale focuses on the espionage circles in Florence, Naples, and Venice. Sandberg introduces a religious topic from France's perspective in the Levant. Cirri's paper focuses on the creation of the Saint Stephen Order in 1561 by Cosimo I. Capponi argues that the Levant was only one of the many projects of the Grand Duchy that aimed to found colonies in South America and Africa and a trading company similar to those of the Netherlands and Portugal. Finally, Nelson points out the critical value of the Ottoman trophies exposed in Pisa for Medici family propaganda. The third section relates to cultural perception. Ilg presents images of Ottoman production destined to introduce the Ottoman Empire to the Florentine court. Kynan-Wilson discusses Jacopo Ligozzi's claim on the “Turkish drawings,” an Ottoman costume book.

In addition, Gurney presents the Baroque comedy Lo Schiavetto to argue about Orientalism in the Italian seventeenth century. Last but not least, Alberti sheds light on Fakhr al-Din, a former Ottoman official who had sought political asylum in Florence and Naples at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Ottoman refugee left us a fascinating account of his life in the Medici's court, which is the first from an Arabian source. The last section deals with material culture. Morena presents Russia as the cultural mediator between the Latin world and Far East Asia in a period that witnessed the European powers’ interest toward the so-called Chinaware. Strictly connected to the former, Caroscio illuminates the Medici's intention to build a factory and a laboratory of Chinese-style wares. Starting from Spanish and Ottoman carpet imports to Florence, Sabatini's work introduces a discussion about trade patterns from a cultural perspective. Finally, Farina and Fani present the history of Medici Oriental Press, which started in Rome in 1584 thanks to the soon-to-be cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici. The newly founded typography represented a unicum for the sixteenth century, since it was the first typography to specialize in translations of essential Arabic texts.

To conclude, there is almost nothing to criticize in this volume and much to praise: it is an essential resource for all scholars dedicated to studying the early modern Mediterranean. The excellent results are undoubtedly due to the substantial use of extensive archival resources, which are perfectly contextualized in each essay. This book pioneers a research field that has long been forsaken and neglected.