Cartografia e confini interni nella costruzione di uno stato di antico regime: il caso del Piemonte sabaudo

Sociological and Political studies have highlighted the role played in state building by the spreading of maps from the Renaissance onwards, with main reference to the fixing of linear state boundaries. Less studied, but likewise crucial, was the contribution given by maps to the creation of systems of administrative units within the state’s territory: both as practical tools used in the planning of administrative reforms and as a rhetoric device for stating and diffusing among the subjects the new spatial carvings. These latter processes are explored with reference to the evolution of the cartographic representation of the piedmontese provinces of the Sabaudian States during the early modern period