The contribution consists of two parts. The first part contains some reflections on the structure of Saverio Muratori’s unpublished and unfinished research entitled Studi per un’operante storia del territorio. What emerges from this research is the construction of a model of the functioning of the territory based on a composition of complementary parts tending towards the construction of a unitary body. This model, referring to Ptolemy’s Geography, already enters into crisis within the analysis itself. On this crisis, Muratori’s experience in architecture comes to a halt, opening up important development scenarios on the relationship between land forms and
settlement forms. In the second part, an analytical-design research conducted on the Vallée du Grésivaudan is presented. In this research, the model of land construction by parts is enriched with a vision that links settlements to geomorphological structure
