Title: The Invention of Alpen-Adria. Cross-Border Cooperation and Region-Building in Sensitive Border Areas (1960s-2010s)
PhD Supervisor & Co-Supervisor: Davide Rodogno and Alessandro Monsutti
Expected completion date: 1 March 2025
Due to processes of nation building, communities living in the Alps-Adriatic region, i.e., across the borders of today’s Italy, Austria, and (ex) Yugoslavia, suffered disintegration and violence. During the Cold War central authorities controlled national borders and militarized the territory. A climate of suspicion persisted and transformed the border into a symbolic periphery of confrontation between “East” and “West” blocks. This paper analyses how border communities challenged this imaginary. Through cross-border cooperation, regional policymakers and other actors developed the idea of “Alpe-Adria” to depict the area as a transnational region where to cultivate friendship and peace. The laboratory of Alps-Adriatic cross-border practices, from the 1960s to today, stands up as a paradigmatic case to rethink the history of Cold War Europe from margins. By focusing on the interplay between bottom-up initiatives and interstate politics, my thesis engages with recent debates in border studies. Moreover, by providing an example of cross-border cooperation between the two blocs in the only juncture between Romance, Slavic and German populations, this paper connects Cold War studies and history of European integration, endorsing perspectives that illuminate the autonomy of borderlanders over nationalistic top-down politics.
In 2017 I obtained my master’s degree in international relations (European Affairs) from the University of Bologna. I then worked in Brussels, completing an internship at the Liaison Office of the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and at the European Committee of the Regions. Since I am in Geneva, I have worked as library assistant, research assistant (project: https://themythofhomogeneity.org/ ) and teaching assistant at the History and Politics Department of the Graduate Institute.
I collaborated with the Municipality of Bologna in the design of “Concives 1116-2016, Celebrations for the IX centenary of the Municipality of Bologna”, and with the Faculty of Educational Sciences in organizing the International Fest of History of Bologna. I collaborate with diverse online and paper journals and as “young historian” with the RAI (Italian National Television) program “Passato e Presente”, conducted by Paolo Mieli.
Research Experience
Research Assistant at the Graduate Institute with Dr. Emmanuel Dalle Mulle and Professor Davide Rodogno for the project: "The Myth of Homogeneity. Minority Protection and Assimilation in Western Europe 1919-1939”