Recycling disused railways. Towards a new integration between mountains and cities in the Bergamo territory

Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the "Seriana" and "Brembana" valleys territories were affected by the construction of two railway lines which ensured a strong interaction with Bergamo and supported the economic and social development of the city. After decades of intense activity, these mobility services have been interrupted and the railway structures abandoned, producing two extensive "linear voids" in the territory and in the local economic system. A different role for this abandoned infrastructure emerged in the 1980s after the increase in private mobility and the rise of new institutional debate about alternative transport models. This contribution aims at presenting the case of the Bergamo Valleys Railways and will deal with both the reuse of a particular category of unused spaces and with the international debate from which the concept of greenway emerged as a possible approach for the enhancement of the disused railways. The case is significant both for its aptitude to show a strong synergy between mobility systems and territories, and in witnessing an approach to the "recycle" of disused railways typical for the Italian context