The focus of this article is the analysis of the contribution of international geographical researches to the study of migrations. A particular emphasis is given to the activities of the Globility Commission of the International Geographical Union, to which a few Italian scholars are actively participating. In the study of migratory phenomena in Italy, an important role is given to the heritage of the “Italian emigration lesson” and to the problems related to the economic global crisis, which most of all affects the weakest strata of society, such as migrants. In the last part of the paper the author presents the essays collected in this special issue, which are divided into four different research fi elds: migrations, cities and processes of cultural interaction; migrations, youth and adult education and processes of cultural interaction; migrations, job market and processes of cultural interaction; forced migrations, asylum seekers, shelter for refugees and processes of cultural interaction.