City Museums: first elements for a debate

The paper is focused on two main topics which influence the contemporary and on-going debate about city museums: the existence of a collection and of a building dedicated to housing it. Then it deals with the question of the size of cities selected for the establishment of a city museum (large or small centers). Finally the use of different tools for the representation of urban changes is considered from the point of view of the necessity to communicate with a broad range of users (tourists, citizens, new immigrants, children).