The article examines the local events and the ‘border’ debate sparked by the unveiling of the statue of Gabriele d’Annunzio in Trieste on 12 September 2019. Commissioned by the local centre-right council, the statue immediately sparked widespread controversy, both at the local political level and in relations between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia; and, finally, amongst the historians who have most actively participated in the debate on events along the Adriatic border in recent years. An examination of this debate, with particular attention to the local press, will form the core of this essay, analysing the opposing arguments and the extent to which the entire affair has been exploited by various public actors. Finally, an attempt will be made to relate this specific case study to the cultural and memory-related conflicts typical of this decade, and to how public history (in this case in the form of monumentalism) is today at the centre of renewed interest but also of new contradictions that require communicative approaches different from those of the past.
