Starting from the nineties, following upon the political changes triggered by the end of the East-West confrontation, the troubled history of the Italian Eastern border between the Second World War and the “long post-war period” has suddenly been conferred a major role in the debate on the Italian national identity. A definite trend inversion has been observed as against the previous decades, when the events of the Eastern border had been often covered by a cone of shadow. The scholars’ attention had concentrated mainly on some of the most dramatic issues, whereas other problems were still unsolved; an overall reference framework is missing, to involve the whole border area and to catch the main features of a historical original event. This research project stems from the need to pursue such objective, detecting two fundamental categories: the “divided land” and the “bridge border”, which mark the main stages of a historical process involving the period between the mid-forties and the midsixties. In particular, the project aims at reconstructing the fundamental stages of this itinerary, considering the whole territory from a single perspective. Taking account of the limited time and resources, the research favours only some strategic issues and especially the ones concerning the construction of the new political system (democracy in Italy, and communism in Slovenia), the role of the Allied Military Governments and the debate on the integration of border areas in the national economy and their prospects for development.