Gorizia Nova, un'eurocittà fra Italia e Slovenia

With the extension to Slovenia of the Schengen procedures (2008) the foundations have been laid for a process of gradual reconstruction of the territorial structure at Italy’s eastern border. In the particular case of Gorizia, chief town of one of the smallest Italian provinces, the preconditions are ripening for the town urban area to rejoin the new city which has developed on the other side of the 1947 border under the name of Nova Gorica. Urban duplication is one of the most impressive consequences of the Cold War. In this case it has been the ultimate stage of the dissolution of an ancient historical and geographical unit, the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, beginning in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. The fall of the border has now led to the restoration of a territorial continuity which had been interrupted as a consequence of the Second World War. The rise of a single urban area which, though politically belonging to two different countries, is bound to share a common future implies that in the long run it will resume the role of territorial coordination formerly held by the chief town of the County of Gorizia. As far as the urban system of the region Friuli Venezia Giulia is concerned, the new urban unit would rank third both in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia (immediately after Udine) and in Slovenia, close behind Maribor. The effect of the overlaying of the two town units following the abolition of borders in the redesigning of the whole urban network cound not find a more striking example. For this “new” town which in fact already exists although geography has not yet taken it into proper consideration, a new name has been proposed. Gorizia Nova would give equal dignity to both national components, blending the Slav and Latin language together so as to highlight its roots deep into the history of Europe. This paper, taken from a research carried out within the community programme Interreg IIIA Italy-Slovenia, tackles the issue of the territorial articulation of the new town, focussing in particular on the identification of the urban core and the perimeter of the agglomeration.