Searching for renovating and/or constructing quiet areas in historical urban sites, along with the conservation and valorization policies of the tangible and intangible value of historic urban sites are goals that can be combined into a unique sustainable strategy for the preservation of the sense of place and identity of communities as well as their well-being. Historic cloisters and courtyards are examples of such sites. Due to their physical, architectural, environmental and cultural features, they present restorative capabilities that could qualify them as quite areas. This paper aims to establish a new procedure that, through the exploration and analysis of past and current aspects of these sites, makes it possible to classify them and understand whether they still preserve a restorative character. A graphic representation, obtained from a historical analysis and an objective description of past and current historical/architectural, environmental and cultural scenarios, has been used. The results were compared with those of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS-11). A diamond shape represents highly restorative sites, while deviations from this shape were found to be weakly correlated with a restorative nature. This has also been shown by the high positive correlation of analytical parameters with the PRS-11 score and, in particular, with the component of Fascination.

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The essay explores the characteristics and themes of architecture related to Benedictine monastic life in the territories of Cilento and Vallo di Diano.
The influences coming from the East and from beyond the Alps are adapted to local traditions without imitating early Christian models, as happens in other areas of Campania. The classical Greek elements acquire greater importance than the Roman universe. The previous buildings adapt to the western world and create heterogeneous hybrids that cannot be easily classified. The Carthusians introduce models that are consistent with a new formulation of the concept of the ideal city. The essay aims to analyze specifically the Certosa di Padula, in the heart of the Vallo di Diano, from the act of its foundation at the beginning of the fourteenth century until the impressive renovations during the eighteenth century. The monastic complex does not present itself as a safe haven from the perils of the world but becomes a spiritual place, the anticipation of Paradise on earth. On the one hand, respect for the strict rule of San Brunone and, on the other, constant interaction with the surrounding territory. The monastery constitutes a new type of polis. An ideality regulated by a rigid separation of the cloistered environments intended for the contemplation of the monks and those dedicated to community life. The boundary between the hermit's life in the upper domus and the cenobitic life in the lower domus is marked by the desertum, the large cultivated green space that gives access to the Civitas Dei, announced by the cartouche of the threshold "Felix coeli porta". The architectural structure of the Certosa di Padula, born on the basis of the models of Trisulti in Lazio and the motherhouse of Grenoble, reflects and embodies that ideal mystical city as declined by Thomas More who saw in monastic customs the foundation of Utopia.

The A.C.Q.U.A. (Advisable Conscious Quality Use from Assisi) project, promoted by the Climate and Energy and Heritage Design courses of the Planet Life Design Master Program, addresses the theme of the recovery and regeneration of ancient wash-houses in the context of energy, environmental sustainability and innovation, a way of understanding cultural heritage in the wider sense of heritage community through the active participation of all the actors involved: universities, institutions, businesses, students and citizens. The proposal, tested in the municipalities of Assisi and Ruviano (ITALY), involves the creation of a "Community Wash House", a new way of carrying out the usual domestic act of washing clothes in the open air, next to the places where this rite was traditionally performed, in technologically innovative constructions that use renewable energy sources and encourage a reduction in household consumption of water and energy. This project is part of the training of professionals in the new inter-university course that combines knowledge of the tools of technical and scientific design with historical and cultural perspectives in a perspective of sustainable redevelopment of existing structures in the area and the use of alternative energy sources with low climate impact, calculated using the statistics of the Copernicus CDS.