The Friuli model represents the only large-scale reconstruction process successfully implemented in Italy. Through the contribution of some experts who participated, as protagonists, in the reconstruction after the 1976 earthquake, the volume tries to define what it was and the reasons why it is difficult to replicate despite the undoubted success and the general appreciation that still surrounds it. It is, above all, a self-centered model of territorial reconstruction. Today it may appear out of date not so much because it is obsolete or too tied to a specific space-time context, but because it is not very compatible with hierarchical spatial reorganizations and neo-centralist policies: it is inspired in fact by an autonomy and firmitas of the territories that goes beyond the current fragility of local authorities. The Friuli model, in its basic principles, waits to be taken up and relaunched not only as a response to recent seismic events, but also as a 'grammar' of the local government tout court, since it has effectively anticipated spatial relationships and the powers based on ultimate mission of any territory that wants to survive over time despite crises or catastrophes: building solid alliances between local communities, knowledge (including technical) and politics.