The camp of Avezzano, in Abruzzo, was built for the prisoners of the First World War by the Italian Military Engineering Office. However, the prisoners were also used in the reconstruction of the city, completely destroyed by the recent earthquake of 1915. In addition, the urban development of Avezzano, after the Fifties, was conditioned by the pattern of the camp, whose remains emerge among the buildings of Borgo Pineta district. Today there are only a few barracks of the old camp, some turned into houses. The cottage of the Military Engineering Office is still standing, although in poor condition. Some remains have been recently demolished by the Municipality. The contribution focuses the issue of conservation of ruins that keep a negative memory in a modern city of about 40.000 inhabitants, starting from a survey and a project carried out before the recent demolitions.