Innovazione sociale e sviluppo territoriale : quando la strada si fa comunità

This work is focused on the concept of Social Innovation (SI), defining it as a practice of alter-native territorial development. In this sense, the SI stands out in particular for the importance that gives to the local dimension as a source of shared identities. Taking the Social Street Fondazza in Bologna as a case study, this paper aims to show how SI projects activate civic engagement practices, capable of shaping a participatory citizenship on the boundaries between the private and public spheres producing new interpretive schemes able to redefine the society at the local level. [Publishers' text].