Literary Nonfiction. Italian Studies and Literary Criticism. Performing Arts, Film & Video. This collection of essays is born out of the inaugural conference of the Mediterranean Centre for Intercultural Studies (MCIS), which took place in Erice, Sicily, in May 2013. The MCIS was founded in 2012 with the specific goal of creating an ongoing dialogue between those scholars whose intellectual work is dedicated to topics and themes related to any aspect of Mediterranean culture, in the broadest sense of the term. As we move forward, we shall make available the best of the work that emanates from the Centre's future meetings.