Acknowledgments
In 2016 and 2017, I was studying photography at a school in Milan. A classmate of mine, Leonardo, came from a small village on the Swiss-Italian border. In a conversation with him during a coffee break between one lesson and another, we talked about the border. Sometime later, I visited that line for the first time. I thank Leonardo for first drawing my attention to the border. This book came together with the support of many others, whom I would like to thank. After that first visit to the border, my research continued thanks to a PhD course supported by a three-year fellowship from the Italian Ministry of Education, which started at the end of 2018. I became affiliated with the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of Politecnico di Milano. Later, an agreement for joint supervision was made with KU Leuven, where I was affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography, Art, and Visual Cultures. I thank my PhD supervisors Luca Gaeta and Hilde Van Gelder for guiding me while challenging me to grow. Members of the PhD boards and researchers from the two universities shared their thoughts and comments on my research on different occasions. Joeri Verbesselt and Giovanni Lanza received early versions of my writing and provided valuable feedback. Alice Buoli shared her expertise on borderscapes from the early stages of this research, while Chiara Geroldi first triggered my curiosity about doing research. Ifigeneia Dimitrakou, Matteo Poli, and Davide Ponzini encouraged my ideas with different conversations.
Many other professionals, researchers, and artists outside these two universities have contributed to supporting me. Lisa Barnard tutored me in the development of my photographic practice. Irene Soldati helped me in conducting etymological research. Maria Iorio, Raphaël Cuomo, Marco Poloni, Sally Stein (on Allan Sekula’s behalf) engaged in conversation with me and agreed to let me reproduce their works and images. Xavier Ribas and Alessandra Ferrini were generous discussants. Paolo Barcella shared with me his knowledge of cross-border work. Silvia Converso allowed me to exhibit part of this work at SUPSI in Mendrisio, which helped me to reflect on its evolution. In the phase that led to creating the book, Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes, as the editor-in-chief of Brill’s Research / Art / Writing series, provided invaluable comments. Mary S. Lederer took care of editing and proofreading the book manuscript. Liesbeth Hugenholtz, as Brill’s editor, guided me through the publication process. Brill’s anonymous referee critically commented on the text. Roberta Donatini provided me with useful suggestions on the graphic design.
Numerous people from the Swiss-Italian border area, whom I met in the field or online, helped me in various ways and gave me their time for interviews and conversations. These include volunteers and workers from Osservatorio Giuridico per i Migranti in Como, members of the association Como Senza Frontiere, such as Fabio Cani, Don Giusto and Georgia Borderi from the Parrocchia San Martino in Rebbio, members of Centro di Prima Accoglienza Casa Astra in Mendrisio, and trade unionists from the Italian trade union C.G.I.L. and the Swiss trade union Unia, such as Giuseppe Augurusa and Enrico Borelli. A warm thanks also goes to Armida Valli, Giovanna Staub, Guido Codoni, and Roberta Maggioni. Alberto Mauri accompanied me to several places in the border landscape where I could not have gone alone, practically contributing to the making of many of the photographs in the book. Finally, I thank all the cross-border workers and people on the move who shared their experience of the border with me during interviews, short chats, or casual encounters. Without all these, and without the support of my family and friends, this book would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank the University Foundation of Belgium and the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at the University of Hasselt for their financial support of the book.