Memory and Communities. A new day has begun for Industrial Heritage and Trails

Main objective of this research is to investigate how much industrial museums and trails have recently developed their legacy and commitment within the governance, communities and stakeholders they connect with thanks to different communication channels and either with the echo of a main story and memory (the entrepreneur’s and the corporate) or with a challenging vision of a different governance and a separate supply. The analysis of a sample of Italian industrial museums is confirming effectiveness and focus on community issues, while the use of communication channels varies depending by different role-players in the governance, from corporate to non-corporate staff. The paper provides an overview of evolution of these heritages in Europe and in Italy. Marketing and fundraising uniqueness, revenues and grants diversification, segmentation of stakeholders and causes, the range of communication tools and the specific governance, they all show a new value chain within a different and versatile evolution.