This article focuses on HSR stations in Italy (Turin Porta Susa, Florence Belfiore and Rome Tiburtina), and comparing them briefly, where necessary, with European case-studies. Replacing these contemporary HSR stations within an architectural framework raises a major question at the district level, about the relationship of these huge complexes and the ancient urban fabric and about their new role as urban mediators, also in terms of density and morphology. Finally, addressing specific factors in the design process, this essay aims to describe and illustrate the peculiar features through which HSR infrastructure today manages to transform itself from the urban separator that it was during the last century into an urban connector.
