Alla Mecca e Oltre. Una selezione di contratti di viaggio registrati presso il tribunale ottomano di Aleppo (secoli XVI-XVIII).

This short essay presents a number of unpublished 16th to 18th-century documents from the qāḍī-court records of Aleppo related to contracts and arrangements of travel and transport. These documents mirror the importance of Aleppo as a centre of regional and international trade and as a chief halting place on the Anatolian- Syrian pilgrimage route in the classic Ottoman era. The bustling urban and rural world of travelling pilgrims, merchants, high dignitaries, travel agents, camel breeders, camel drivers, and porters returns the image of a society where mobility, despite its hardships, dangers and costs, was a constant and essential feature.