This paper, part of a largest research about the so-called "minor fortified architectures", focus the dynamics related to the development and transformative processes of some rural architectures in defensive structures or in the reverse way.
The rural settlements have also evolved, over the time, in defensive structures of the territories; the need for security, often implemented by the evolution of isolated rural settlements in an urban area, has caused the development of fortification strategies; in this way, the original farms has been transformed into very heterogeneous types of fortified architecture.
A different evolutive dynamism, caused by inverse social conditions, has left some interesting examples of evolution from a defensive architecture to a rural architecture; this is the case of the so-called Torre Ranieri, in the city of Naples, Italy.
The methodological approach of this research is mainly identified in the integration of the scientific knowledge about the so-called "minor fortified architectures", deepened through the representation instruments; it also aims to offer new elements of analysis about the evolution of the territories, through the critical reading of this particular architectural heritage
