Hereditatis Petitio. Ovvero quando la tutela muove dalla comunità

Recently, small communities have rediscovered their connection to specific places or objects, seeing value in previously neglected, abandoned, or controversial assets. This newfound interest can lead to heritage-making efforts involving collaboration with cultural institutions, research bodies, administrations, and wider groups, forming heritage communities that often assert a claim to heritage. This shift from imposed to proposed protection highlights the growing importance of new forms of heritage in discussions and conservation efforts. The experiences described prompt reflection on universities' role and how their research and outreach efforts can impact these processes. In specific four different experiences will be described. The former Druso Barrack in Silandro, South Tyrol, thanks to an international Erasmus+ BIP workshop for architecture students, was the opportunity to help the local community to save the area from the demolition, avoiding gentrification processes and the loss of a controversial memory. The project Galla Placidia Line, is meant instead to preserve and enhance the German fortification system built along the Adriatic Coast, involving, at different operative levels, the local communities. The intangible signs of a forgotten landscape that strengthen intergenerational bonds are the subject of the project Places, Memories, Communities, which seeks the traces of the Second World War in the Savio Valley in the province of Forlì-Cesena. Traditional fisherman architectures such as the Dry Docks in Formentera, Spain, as witnesses of an economic, social, and cultural fabric threatened by tourist exploitation, were the subject of a degree thesis. Despite the different scales and peculiarities, the four projects shared the propulsive role and the continuous involvement of small communities in the joint processes of conservation.