The CISEI - Centro Internazionale Studi Emigrazione italiana (CISEI) (International Centre for the Study of Italian Emigration) was established in Genoa to preserve and develop memories of Italian emigration, with the dual aim of creating a national documentary archive of historical Italian emigration and to establish contacts at national and international level with other study centres and museum institutions focusing on migration in Italy at regional level, in Europe and worldwide.

In 2001, the Port Authority of Genoa launched the project and brought together Genoese and Ligurian institutions, and the world of universities and research in a Promoting Committee that worked to make the Study Centre a reality.  

The CISEI came into being on the 12th of June 2006, acquiring the status of an Association, endowed with a Statute, an Assembly, a Council and a Scientific Committee comprising some of the most distinguished Italian and international scholars on the subject.

CISEI and the MEI-Museo Nazionale dell'Emigrazione Italiana (National Museum of Italian Emigration) co-operate actively, and CISEI performs the functions of Study Centre, Library and CISEINET platform for communication with emigrants in the world within the MEI. Also, as part of the museum itinerary, in area A16 Cosa ne pensi? (What do you think?) – Un ricordo del MEI (A memory of the MEI), a multimedia station allows visitors to consult the CISEI online archive, developed over the last decade and currently containing over 5 million names of Italian emigrants.