Le città italiane e l'Ancsa: mezzo secolo di proposte, dibattiti e battaglie sui centri storici

This text is a short journey through several Italian cities, to provide a brief retrospective of more than half a century of public commitment of the National Association of Historic and Artistic Centres (ANCSA). Towns are shown that have seen a direct intervention of the Association or, more generally, places where emblematic events have took place that helped to develop a vision of which should be today the updated tools more suitable to approach our historic towns. The debate inside Ancsa, in fact, was never only theoretical, but it has always been referred to real urban contexts, interdisciplinary and, as sensitive to the issues of preservation and restoration, characterized by the belief that it is the combination of conservation and innovation dimensions which may help to defense the historic heritage and promote the urban regeneration. At the same time Ancsa has always affirmed that the social dimension and the physical transformations are inseparable, since the city is civitas and urbs. If some of the cases presented are long gone in time, the city cited are also representative of many open issues that still concern citizens, scholars, public administrations.