The Renovation of Italian Railway Stations: From the Journey to the Consumption of the Journey

Abstract

The article analyses the transformations that have affected Italian railway stations in recent decades. The first part deals with the history of the railway station and is devoted to understanding its functions as well as its social and symbolic meanings. The construction of railways had a significant impact on the urban form: it created new centralities and fractures and conditioned the development of the city. The railway station represented a novelty from an architectural point of view, being a space in which architectural and engineering knowledge merged. Because of their importance and monumentality, railway stations have been likened to cathedrals of modernity and movement and have been among the most important public spaces in the twentieth century. The second part of the article focuses on railway station renovation projects, in particular the «Grandi Stazioni» project, viewing it in the broader context of the profound changes in urban policies, which are increasingly oriented towards enhancing competitiveness and attractiveness. The renovation of stations has been aimed at revitalising rail mobility to address the mounting crisis in both the freight and passenger sectors, due to competition from road transport first and air transport later. The loss of centrality of rail transport had also affected railway station spaces, multiplying material and social voids as well as forms of decay. The renovation of railway stations has taken the form of a privatisation and commodification of spaces and an increase in surveillance and control. The transformations of railway stations can thus be read an example of contraction/domestication of public space.

Received: 21 October 2022 / Accepted: 26 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023