There were major Italian settlements and trade cities in the eastern mediterranean and the middle east in the late middle ages (most notably with Venice in the Aegean/Cyprus, Genoa in the Crimea and Azov), as well as major communities of Italian merchants in major cities of the Middle East. However, these trade cities began to decline as trade turned further away from going through the Near East and instead turned to going across the Atlantic and around Africa, and there is barely any Italian presence in the Eastern Mediterranean/Near East today.
How could you get major Italian communities in the Near East? What would be the social/cultural/political effects of these major Italian communities? Depending on how events go, could you end up with Venetian or Ligurian-speaking Muslims in the Levant?
How could you get major Italian communities in the Near East? What would be the social/cultural/political effects of these major Italian communities? Depending on how events go, could you end up with Venetian or Ligurian-speaking Muslims in the Levant?