ABSTRACT
The concept of borderscapes allows us to focus on specific local configurations of bordering processes, the production of borders through discourses, political institutions, cultural negotiations, representations in a particular social context. Investigating the historical evolution of urban borders provides an insight into spatial, social and political changes. Borders and bordering practices, both in their physical and symbolical dimension, define the city as a lived space, a fabric intertwining time, space, social forms and experiences. The idea of the city and the idea of the border are mutually related. A portion of space can be lived in exactly because it is limited and de-limited. The city is that space included within clearly defined borders. In the Roman world, the furrow made by the ploughshare marks off the sacred space within which the city rises, and separates the city from the country, inside from outside.
