Europa was founded by Italian indie publishers Sandro Ferri and Sandra Ozzola Ferri in 2005. Following 9/11 they began asking themselves what, as publishers, they could do to address the communication breakdown that was happening between cultures and nations. They also saw a business opportunity in the scarcity of foreign works being published in the US. They founded Europa in response both to what they saw as cultural imperative and to an opening in the market.