De l’osmose à la séparation : la construction de la frontière entre la France et le Piémont-Savoie (16e-18e siècles)

The issue of boundary is now very relevant in historiography. The case of the limit between France and Piedmont in the early modern age sheds light on phenomena of osmosis and permeation among close territories, but also on the progressive stiffening of the national boundary along the Alps. The exempla of Nice and its county, of the marquisate of Saluzzo, of the valleys around Barcelonette which the two States exchanged after the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) make it possible to observe the complex social, economic, religious and political interactions among the inhabitants. They also suggest the importance of a long-period analysis, which might be useful to understand the annexation of Nice and Savoy to France in 1859 too.