Maria Cristina Costa (Collagna, 1934) is part of that generation of architects who were trained to conscientiously deal with any theme or scale of project. After graduating in 1962 from the Milan Politecnico, where she was profoundly influenced oy Ernesto N. Rogers's courses, she immediately directed her oro- fessional interests towards the themes of urban and territorial recovery. This choice, which went decidedly against the grain in the cultural and economic context of the "Italian economic miracle", reveals Costa's pioneering sensitivity to a disciplinary domain that was then only beginning to define its methodologi- cal and executive tools. Hers has been a passionate and coherent undertaking, to which she has dedicated her life's work, constantly questioning and perfect- ing each theoretical and applicative realisation. Her professional trajectory is of remarkable scientific and academic interest, including as it does architectural and planning projects and significant experiences accrued during her presence on select committees for the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Italian academe. Thanks to contributions by illustrious scholars and the author's critical readings of her most important projects, this book not only affords an overview of Costa's fifty years of professional activity, but also tackles some of the most vital questions in the disciplinary debate on urban recovery. This volume collates and critically analyses some of the most significant architecture and planning designs executed by the architect-urban planner Maria Cristina Costa, whose consistent commitment over fifty years is inex- tricably bound up with her search for a methodology to apply to the existing natural and constructed heritage. Subdivided into thematic sections, each introduced by some of the discipline's most important scholars and fig- ures, this book also offers an interpretative key to the complex growth and development of a field of inquiry that has become central to any reflection on architecture: urban and territorial recovery, Francesco lenzini (Reggio Emilia, 1978). Architect, and currently PhD student in inte- rior architecture and design at the Milan Politecnico. Since 2007, he has been collabo- rating on architectural composition courses at various universities in Italy and abroad.