THINKING ABOUT GEOGRAPHY AS A CULTURAL CROSS ROAD

Abstract

The article summarizes the opening speech given by Professor Mazzetti on November the 21st 2013 at the seat of the Italian Geographical Society, on the occasion of the award of the Honorary Membership. Full professor of Economic and Political Geography at the University of Naples Federico II, Professor Mazzetti has been member of the Executive Board of the geographical Society for thirty years and Vice president for the last eight years. In his opening speech the author dwelled on three main topics: 1) the cultural background of his geographical education, with particular reference to the experience of the “school” issued from the magazine review Nord e Sud; 2) the persisting problem of the development gap between northern and southern Italy, mainly manifested today in the “urban issue”; 3) worldwide connections between urban geography and geopolitics.