Foreign students in the city, c. 1500-1700

In university towns the presence and the role of students, who were mostly foreigners, has for a long time constituted a subject that has either been neglected or, very often tackled in an anecdotal manner and to a limited degree connected with matters of law and order. It is only in the last few years that university historiography has tackled the subject in a more compulsory way, setting analysis and evaluation parameters which allow the articulated and complex relationships that tied the students' presence to town life in a period of ancient régime to be interpreted on a less abstract level. The results of this renewed interest have been presented, in particular, in a framework of certain conventions. The text propose a first reflection on the methods of use of the urban spaces, and more generally of the town by this heterogeneous and extraneous aggregation made up by the student population.