Reflection on the recognition of the cultural and urban matrix of a ‘Mediterranean South’, a recognition that confronts and marginalizes it, by its apparent ‘chaos and irrationality’, with a complementary matrix from Northern Europe. First, there is a physical differentiation, recognizable both by the climatic contrast and by the observation of a more ‘topical and organic’ matrix, which better adapts to the Mediterranean orography, as opposed to a more ‘utopian and abstract’ matrix, present in the ‘generic planimetry’ of northern Europe. Secondly, the historical and cultural issues also conditioned the settlements, highlighting the dangers present in the cities near the Mediterranean, although protected by defensible redoubts, and the North, by its planimetry, of internal places articulated with trade by great rivers. Third, religious issues are also important, highlighting the importance of Protestantism for a greater differentiation of a Mediterranean Roman-Catholic world. Finally, it is evident the permanence of these matrices in contemporary life, highlighting differences between ‘Mediterranean cities’ such as Rome or Lisbon and the different characteristics of northern cities such as Berlin or Antwerp. With these findings, it is argued that the diversity and ‘marginality’ attributed to the Mediterranean matrix is mismatched, because it qualifies less normative areas that allow a freer and identity world.