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.

Growing tourist flows, which crowd ancient city centres, have modified their liveability and threatened conservation. They have increased the need for quiet places, primarily where green parks are missing. While previous studies have highlighted the possibility of reusing hidden sites of historical buildings, it is not clear if this scheme can also be applied in other contexts, and which physical or perceptual dimensions are mainly related to the restoration of these sites. If greenery and water elements induce positive effects on people’s well-being, we want to understand if the historical–artistic component can be just as important for people’s restorativeness. To this end, the physical and perceptual characteristics of 20 different sites in Naples and Istanbul were investigated through objective and subjective surveys. The results show that the sound levels inside sites cannot consistently account for the perception of the restorativeness in Italy and Turkey, while some sound level differences caused by outside noise could. Moreover, soundscape, appreciation, maintenance/management, and importance/relevance were the main perceptual dimensions describing these places. The importance/relevance dimension was strongly correlated with all the components of the restorativeness, especially with the fascination. These findings are consistent between the Italian and Turkish groups.

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Over the centuries religious architecture had a significant role in social and cultural life of people. In the past sacred architectures with their silent spaces were symbolic sites were the “voice” of God was invoked by religious who dedicated most of their life to prayer and spiritual readings.Among them, the cloisters, with their typical architectural conformation of open-air space protected by galleries or corridors, enriched by fountains and gardens had a relevant role also for their restorativeness' capability. They were used as healing places where body, mind and spirit could benefit from the surrounding environment.Nowadays they are still attended by men of faith, pilgrims and religious believers but also, simply, by people in searching of quietness. Their sight on the sky, the greenery and the water, and their cultural elements still affects strongly the physiological and emotional restoration process of the people and, in overcrowded cities where green areas misses, they can represent a new resource. Recent studies highlighted the possibility to use them as pockets of quiet. The paper describes their diffusion in the urban tissue of some cities in Campania and their main characteristics.

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