Reflections on Osimo: Telling the World about the 1975 Treaty to Understand the Present

Anniversaries are always an occasion for remembrance and a moment for meaningful reflection. The Treaty of Osimo, signed in 1975, formalised the territorial separation along the eastern border that had emerged. First, through the Peace Treaty of February 10, 1947 (followed by the partial, faltering implementation of the Free Territory of Trieste and the unfortunate partitioning of Istria and the Kvarner region), and subsequently through the 1954 Memorandum of London, it established the borders between Italy and the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Today, in a radically different context – marked by the breakup of the Balkans, the fall of the blocs, and the impact of the European Union – borders carry a different significance. Yet, beneath the political issues lie highly sensitive cultural and social matters that must not be forgotten.