In the introduction the articles collected in this issue concerning the relationship between cities and infrastructures are considered analysing both the effects of the construction of new routes on the city structures and local "geopolitical" conflicts aiming at questioning the urban hierarchy. From a cross-reading of these studies, a new interpretation of the 20th Century in Italy as a period of turbulent acceleration of transport innovation and urban reorganisation emerges. This results connected to the exhaustion of railways construction and to the search for a new engine for development, finally identified under fascism in the automotive industry, which however only after WW2 will be able to develop all the connections that will make the Italian modernization possible.
Keywords: Italy transport infrastructures Urban structure Urban hierarchy Railways