Il confine politico quale paesaggio simbolico: il contributo della geografia

For geographers, the science of the borders represents since times a privileged field of interest. In particular after the affirmation of the critical approach in geography, the object of study is being studied not as a territorial element in se or because of its function of modeling the borderland, like in the traditional geography. The critical research studies the border first of all in reference of the symbolic and identitarian functions it has not only towards the populations which are settled next to him, but also towards the entire world. The representation of the border – transmitted furthermore through the modern mass media at a global scale, and often with “unsuspected” instruments, such as the touristic promotion – therefore assumes an importance which is equal to that covered by the border materially interpreted. There is the transit from the territorial dimension of the borderland to the landscape dimension of the borderscape, concept which includes without doubt the feelings and the passions of the people.