Hi,
I'm in a similar boat to yours actually. Have a BA from a top ranking university in the Middle East and am applying for Master's in History in Europe, and hopefully a PhD right after that.
Would I be right in thinking that you are in the MA Global Cultures program at Bologna?
I think that it depends what program you want...ideally you should be getting guidance from your current professors, and hopefully a letter of recommendation. Some places like the Berlin Graduate School require you to explicitly list who you want to work with, and give you a list of their faculty roster and who is available to supervise and who isn't.