Some places, within a city, manage to represent the identity of a whole community, as catalysts of itsenergy and its soul. The Covered Market area in Reggio Emilia is an example of it. Being at the heartof Roman local institutions first, and an important religious and civic site for the following centuries,this area has always had a strategic role within Reggio Emilia urban fabric. The Market Building,designed and built between 1926 and 1927, embodies the historical layering and evolution of such astratified city centre. A restoration project, therefore, must not only aim at preserving the aestheticand functional qualities of the complex, but must also provide a new design that assigns the marketthe role of catalyst for the new development of the city of Reggio Emilia. This example proves, onceagain, that it is necessary to devise a process that combines public interest and social utility to triggera widespread regeneration in order to revitalize the city’s social and economic tissue