Ancona: from fortress city to an inclusive city of the future. Military heritage as a driver for urban identity, experimentation, exploration, and regeneration

An ancient, fortified city on Monte Conero, strategically positioned along the central Adriatic coast, Ancona reveals its essence through the defensive framework that has shaped it over centuries. An extensive and experimental fortification system, particularly from the 16th to the 19th century, and examined here, has profoundly influenced the urban form and identity. From a papal fortress city to a first-class stronghold of the kingdom of Italy, it achieved remarkable advancements in military and technical innovation, such as Sangallo the Younger’s Cittadella and Vanvitelli’s Lazzaretto. Today, this cultural heritage constitutes an invaluable open-air archive, still fragmented and undervalued, yet crucial for understanding and defining contemporary urban transformations. Through an interdisciplinary approach employing mixed methods, this study reflects on the potential of this exceptionally fortified system for the city of the future as a strategic driver of urban regeneration, experimentation and cultural reactivation. Drawing on historical knowledge and critical reading of the current condition, it examines significant case studies to reveal how these defensive works, suspended between abandonment and reuse, often overlooked by the public and scholars, still have much to offer. Beyond mere physical restoration, they have the potential to become living territorial devices capable of inspiring systemic visions and fostering inclusive heritage experiences. The recent Public Properties City Plan confirms the urgent need to overcome the fragmentation of interventions, promoting networked relationships and multi-level governance involving citizens, institutions and private stakeholders. This case contributes to a broader and timely reflection on the value of military heritage as a multifunctional infrastructure capable of reconnecting spatial, social and symbolic dimensions. In a city that has historically been a theatre of trade, exchanges, conflicts, and sieges, its ancient defensive structures can be reactivated as catalysts for peace, innovation and urban cohesion, contributing to the definition of new experiential and regenerative paradigms for European cities. Through the thoughtful design of abandoned heritage, architecture emancipates itself from the ephemeral and exhibitionist aesthetics of the contemporary age, which imposes novelty at any cost. It reveals itself as a creator of possible worlds, grounded in genuine progress that interweaves memory and future while also offering a crucial alternative to rearmament.