Appraisals in Italy Identity, contents, prospects,La disciplina estimativa in Italia Identit{`a}, conoscenza, prospettive

The paper presents the results of a wide field of research concerning the teaching of appraisal studies in the courses of Architecture and Engineering in Italian universities. This general report, including critical observations and interpretations, provides the basis for strategies to increase the presence and impact of appraisal studies. The aim is to spread the personal and professional awareness that the estimative sensibility is a key element for the knowledge and planning of the city and the territory. The paper is divided into three coalescing parts. The first highlights the presence of appraisal teaching in different universities and courses of study, and answers the questions: from whom, where, and how much is it taught? The second describes the form and the geography of contents of the appraisal studies, as well as their adaptation and influence to the training needs of the different courses of studies, and answers the question: what is taught? The third, relying on a cross reading of the course programs, highlights further aspects of the educational offer and tries to answer the question: how do you teach? The paper is supported by graphs and maps that integrate the presentation of the contents, aiming to offer the reader a set of synoptic views intended to invite him to collaborate in multiplying the information produced up to now. The whole set of information is set as an information system that can be queried. The authors are going to implement a remotely upgradeable platform. The paper does not reach conclusions except partial ones. It is rather meant to stimulate the interest and participation of teachers, at all levels, of researchers, and - why not? - also of scholars, of enthusiasts, and of students who care about the future of the discipline that helps to set the perspectives of the social community that assumes territory as its institutional dimension and city as its symbolic shape. The information system is centered around a database populated with materials found on the websites of the various Italian Universities and related teaching programs1. Consequently, the paper also invites the colleagues to participate in updating and enlarging the database and to propose new ideas regarding the knowledge of the contents proposed here. Feedbacks could focus on the strategies strengthen quantitatively and qualitatively the studies - considered especially the continuous update of the training goals - as well as the coordination of the teaching content and the ways of integrating with other disciplines to develop useful and significant subjects on the issues of value and assessments2.