Francesco Surdich teaches History of Geographical explorations at the University of Genoa since 1970. Previously he taught History of Islamic Countries and Travel Literature. Between 2008 and 2012, he was dean of the Humanities Department at the same university. He has authored more than 250 publications, including a dozen books. In 1975 he founded the journal Miscellanea di Storia delle esplorazioni, of which he is currently the editor in chief. His books include: Verso il Nuovo Mondo (Giunti, 2002); La Via della Seta. Missionari, mercanti e viaggiatori europei in Asia nel Medioevo (2007), and La via delle spezie. La Carreira da India portoghese e la Cina (2009), all published by Il Portolano-Centro Studi Martino Martini.