Italian Borderscapes after 2020: Mapping, Unfolding, and Re-Framing Border Territories in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
EXPLORE
Borderlands as Resilient Laboratories Amidst a Global Polycrisis
Over the past decade, a series of interconnected socio-economic, political, humanitarian, ecological, and health-related crises – recently referred to as a ‘polycrisis’ – have profoundly affected European territories. These crises have been particularly evident in border areas, not only because such regions are often peripheral to national economic and political centers, but also due to the specific challenges arising from differences in national regulations and interdependencies among border communities. Concurrently, border regions have demonstrated their capacity to respond to these crises collectively and individually, leveraging the unique characteristics of their territories.
Against this backdrop, this project aims to explore the territorial impacts of the ongoing chain of crises and the potential resilient responses, with a focus on the Italian context as a significant case study.
The project maps the entanglement between old and novel forms of re-bordering, de-bordering, and cross-bordering in three Italian borderscapes after 2020
Across Italy's Borders: A Transcalar and Multidisciplinary Exploration of Three Case Studies
FRANCE-ITALY
The France-Italy border unfolds between the Mediterranean coast and the Alps for over 515 km, following the Alpine drainage line. The current borderline was drawn in 1860 and later adjusted after WWII. Italy-France cross-border cooperation is supported under two Interreg programs (Alcotra since early 1990s and Maritime since late 1990s).

AUSTRIA-ITALY
The border between Austria and Italy runs for 430 km and it was first set in 1919 with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, when the German-speaking region of Südtirol and the Italian-speaking region of Trentino were annexed to Italy. Italy-Austria cross-border cooperation under the Interreg Program has been ongoing since the inception of the Interreg initiative in 1990.

SLOVENIA-ITALY
The current border between Slovenia and Italy was established in 1947 after World War II, with the exception of the city of Trieste (which was constituted as a Free Territory divided in two parts) and later redefined in 1975 by the Treaty of Osimo. As the boundary between the former Yugoslavia and the Western bloc, the 232-kilometer border was heavily militarized until 1991. Since Slovenia's independence, Italy and Slovenia have been participating in cross-border cooperation under the Interreg Program.

read the latest updates

New publication: Fieldwork Report Italo-Slovenian border
Our team travelled to the southern part of the Italo-Slovenian border from May 26 to 31, 2024.
The Fieldwork report is released.

New publication: Fieldwork Report Italo-French border
Our team travelled to the southern part of the Italo-French border from July 15 to 19, 2024.
The Fieldwork report is now released.

New Publication
The paper “Power Relations and Border Regions in Italy. The case of Innichen/San Candido (IT) and Sillian (AT)” by Ingrid Kofler and Alessandra Volgger has been published in Power in Transformation. Creative Practices as Catalysts of Change, edited by Mustapha El Moussaoui, Kris Krois and Teresa Palmieri (Oekom Science, 2025).