This dissertation explores the relationship between the imperial city of Nuremberg and its extramural, contagious disease hospitals (i.e. for leprosy, plague and syphilis) between 1490 and 1585. It analyzes to what extent the patients in these outlying institutions belonged to the city or were ostracized from it. The diseases presented in three drastically different ways, providing a comparative framework to analyze early modern concepts of vulnerability to disease and levels of accepted responsibility for its citizens, inhabitants, and foreigners. My project takes Nuremberg as a conceptual unit and analytically slices it multiple ways in order to explore whether the outlying patients were inside or outside of the boundaries of the city. I begin by focusing on the hospitals' fundamental "separated status" as geographically outside the boundary of the city walls. I then complicate this simple definition by exploring the geographic and physical movements of the contagious disease workers as they were the corporal instruments of disease care; the expenditure of the city's resources in the supply of nutrition to the patients; and the provision of patients' spiritual services as their symbolic participation in Nuremberg's Body of Christ. I argue that the inhabitants of Nuremberg's contagious disease hospitals were separated outside the walls in order to limit the city's vulnerability to their contaminating physical condition, but they still belonged under the city’s administration, provision, and protection, and, therefore, within the boundary of civic responsibility. In the movement of bodies, all of these seemingly competing boundaries were observed simultaneous, creating the paradoxical position of the extramural patients and continuously redefining Nuremberg as a civic unit.

La ricerca analizza l’evoluzione della vitivinicoltura nell’Oltrepò Pavese quale elemento caratterizzante il paesaggio di questo territorio. Tale settore produttivo risulta essere una delle principali attività svolte nell’area in esame e ne caratterizza l’economia, il paesaggio collinare, le tradizioni e le forme identitarie, specialmente nellla zona centro-orientale, ossia nei territori che gravitano sui centri urbani di Casteggio, Broni e Stradella. Il lavoro si propone di approfondire anzitutto la valorizzazione della tipicità e del locale, riassunti e rappresentati nel termine terroir, che indica l’insieme degli elementi geomorfologici, climatici, antropici e culturali che rendono unico un prodotto (in questo caso il vino), mettendo così il locale al centro di un’analisi che si può estendere poi a riflessioni di ordine generale. L’indagine geografica ha studiato gli aspetti ambientali e quelli antropici, nonché le loro relazioni. Si è fatto riferimento ai fattori geologici, pedologici e climatici, che altresì sono gli elementi imprescindibili degli studi di «zonazione» che si occupano proprio dell’interazione tra viticoltura e ambiente. L’indagine geostorica-territoriale si è rivolta soprattutto ai seguenti temi: il paesaggio vitivinicolo; i tipi di vitigni impiantati e i relativi sistemi di coltivazione; le produzioni e la commercializzazione del prodotto; la rappresentazione delle proprietà e del territorio attraverso i catasti. Inoltre si approfondiscono i temi geoeconomici sia a scala globale sia a scala locale, grazie alla rielaborazione delle informazioni relative al settore produttivo. Il contesto locale pertanto è confrontato con quello regionale, nazionale e globale, al fine di comprenderne i legami, soprattutto in relazione alle attuali sfide geoeconomiche. / In this thesis we analyse the evolution of grape growing and wine making as two of the elements which have contributed to the shaping of the landscape in the Oltrepò Pavese and represent two of the main economic activities of this geographic area, with is often identified with them – particularly in the mid-western part, i.e., the areas around the towns of Casteggio, Broni and Stradella. My main goal is to investigate the ways in which the values of locality and typicity – represented by the term terroir – are promoted. “Terroir” stands for, and comprises, a number of elements such as geo-morphological and climatic features, as well as human and cultural factors, all of which contribute to the uniqueness of a product like wine. My research thus starts from, and gives prominence to, the local level, in order to formulate a set of observations from which more general conclusions may then be drawn. The geographical investigation focusses on the environmental and human factors as well as their interrelationships. In its course, we refer to factors such as geology, pedology and climate, the crucial elements of all studies of «zoning», which describe precisely the complex interaction between grape growing and the environment. The geo-historical analysis concentrates especially on thematic areas such as the landscape; the varieties of grape that are planted and the respective growing techniques; the production and marketing of the produce; the ways in which property boundaries and the territory have been represented in land registries. The geo-economic factors, at both the local and global levels, are investigated through the analysis of the data from the production sector. The local context is thus compared to the regional, national and global ones in order to better understand the nature of their interactions and provide useful insights in relation to the challenges posed by the current geo-economic scenarios.