Le migrazioni transalpine: Dalla cronaca alla storia

The theme of crossing the Alps is today represented, like every aspect of current migration, through the instrumental use that prevails in the media arena. Here it is completely ignored not only what happened during a long history of territorial mobility, but how much is now acquired by a consolidated tradition of historical and anthropological studies. This paper is inspired by a recent episode that has had as its protagonists some immigrants in transit in an Italian alpine resort and its media representa-tion. The purpose is to underline how it contains some thematic issues on which the historical-anthropological debate on transalpine mobility has centered. By decoding the political-media messages of today in the light of the readings provided by a long tradition of studies, we will try to historicize what is today crushed in pure actuality and to read the present in the perspective suggested by research.