Developing urban heritage through the experience of Piazza garibaldi in Naples

Conceiving heritage as the shared framework among individuals and groups, the paper deals with protection and promotion strategies aimed to create new formes of dialogue between com-munities. The paper takes into account the urban area of Corso Garibaldi in Naples where in 1839 was realized the first railway station in Europe connecting the ancient Porta Nolana to the royal palace at Portici. Several transformation processes occourred to the travellers’ building, have been wiping out, due to decay phenomena and abandon, the inner qualities of the site that has still saved its mobility vocation of crucial crossroads in the transport system, with the nearby Garibaldi Square and the Circumvesuviana Station.The study carries out how, starting from the old layout of the site, it is now possible to transpose the past system of values into a new one where contemporary social requirements are accomplished.