Il confine nord-orientale dell'Italia romana negli studi tra XIX e XX secolo

Abstract

The last decades of the 19th century and the first of the 20th century unquestionably represented a time in which studies in ancient history and archaeology flourished in the whole Europe. All the same, those years marked the epoch of nationalism. Apropos this, the situation was hot in Julian Venetia, Istria and Dalmatia, where under the Austrian Empire the Italian irredentists and Slave nationalists faced because of their claims to the same territories. At that time, historical reasons were often provided as justification to the claims: in this context, the contribution aims at giving some examples of the misuse of ancient geography – and specifically about the eastern border of Italy in the Roman time – from the Italian side both in the specialized literature and in the pamphlets or press.