The French-Italian Border at Menton-Ventimiglia: A Site of Perennial Conflict, Brotherhood, and Mediatisation

The Franco-Italian border in Menton is generally considered the least problematic in both countries: France has suffered the greatest threats along the Rhine by Germany, while Italy, at least since 1918, has held up the most dramatic border confrontation with Yugoslavia. However, from the French annexation of the Maritime Alps (1860), phases of strong tension alternate with phases of exchange and mutual and international integration. The peaceful annexation of 1860 triggered popular motions of pro-Italian protest and exodus of refugees; Fascist chauvinism caused frequent border incidents, the military annexation of the Department and the anti-Italian resistance. International tourism, on the other hand, very early made this frontier almost irrelevant, while the massive immigration of Italians, Jewish refugees and, later, Slavs and North Africans caused alternating phases of hostility, restriction, acceptance and tolerance towards a frequently illegal flow. After a period of almost irrelevance of the frontier deriving from the good Italian-French relations and the abolition of the same within the Treaty of Schengen and the EU, the migrations of international refugees, exploded especially since 2011, and the terrorist attacks have led to a new acute cross-border conflict with the resumption of its political relevance (the recurrent suspension of the Schengen Treaty) and symbolic (its new militarization). Consequently, in all these historical phases, the super mediatisation is constant: postcards, documentaries, newsreels, television broadcasts of security proclamations of the most xenophobic politicians, migrant demonstrations and anti-racist militants