The volume consists of invited refereed research papers. The contributions cover a wide spectrum in algebraic geometry, from motives theory to numerical algebraic geometry and are mainly focused on higher dimensional varieties and Minimal Model Program and surfaces of general type. A part of the articles grew out a Conference in memory of Paolo Francia (1951-2000) held in Genova in September 2001 with about 70 participants.

The aim of the Expositions is to present new and important developments in pure and applied mathematics. Well established in the community over more than two decades, the series offers a large library of mathematical works, including several important classics. The volumes supply thorough and detailed expositions of the methods and ideas essential to the topics in question. In addition, they convey their relationships to other parts of mathematics. The series is addressed to advanced readers interested in a thorough study of the subject. Editorial Board Lev Birbrair, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Fortaleza, Brasil Walter D. Neumann, Columbia University, New York, USA Markus J. Pflaum, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Dierk Schleicher, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany Katrin Wendland, University of Freiburg, Germany Honorary Editor Victor P. Maslov, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Titles in planning include Yuri A. Bahturin, Identical Relations in Lie Algebras (2019) Yakov G. Berkovich, Lev G. Kazarin, and Emmanuel M. Zhmud', Characters of Finite Groups, Volume 2 (2019) Jorge Herbert Soares de Lira, Variational Problems for Hypersurfaces in Riemannian Manifolds (2019) Volker Mayer, Mariusz Urbanski, and Anna Zdunik, Random and Conformal Dynamical Systems (2021) Ioannis Diamantis, Bostjan Gabrovsek, Sofia Lambropoulou, and Maciej Mroczkowski, Knot Theory of Lens Spaces (2021)