This book provides a readable account of the foundations of QFT, in particular of the Euclidean formulation with emphasis on the interplay between physical requirements and mathematical structures. The general structures underlying the conventional local (renormalizable) formulation of gauge QFT are discussed also on the basis of simple models. The mechanism of confinement, non-trivial topology and ?-vacua, chiral symmetry breaking and solution of the U(1) problem are clarified through a careful analysis of the Schwinger model, which settles unclear or debated points.