Evolution and perspectives on intercultural coexistence at the Slovene-Italian border

After the Slovene accession to the EU, the Slovene-Italian border has formally lost its purpose. The local population may notice the absence of border customs checkpoints, yet a year later the increased presence of border police cannot be overlooked. The border between the two states therefore not only remains obvious because of long queues of vehicles waiting to cross it or the presence of the police but also because of the historical memory and experience in the minds of people that cannot simply be forgotten. As expected, we will need 'something more' than the formal dissolution of political boundaries and formalized cross-border cooperation in the form of European Interreg and other project initiatives to reduce the gap between the Italian and Slovene cultural spaces.