Aipai - Associazione italiana per il patrimonio archeologico industriale (the Italian Association for Industrial Archaeological Patrimony), created in 1997, has initiated, an extension of its institutional activity, strengthening already existing relations with other organizations and boosting its public image and its brand towards new and profitable contacts.
This goal was achieved through:

1. Acceptance of new associates (individuals, organizations, institutions) who work to preserve and valorize industrial patrimony;
2. Juridical recognition of the Association and changes of the bylaws which allowed AIPAI to reach its goals more effectively;
3. Creation of an AIPAI chapter in all Italian regions;
4. Enlargement of the programs through the creation of teams to work on specific themes such as the Mines Commission whose goal is to promote a network to coordinate all mine sites and parks in Italy. The network's aims include: organizing meetings on all the problems regarding the management of mining heritage, valorization, reclamation and safety of the sites, tourist marketing, sponsorships, partnerships, relationships with municipal and territorial planning authorities, safeguarding and promotion of the mines landscapes, promotion of the initiative "Giornata Nazionale sulla Miniera" (National Mines Day), which has involved the main Italian mines in public initiatives for the second consecutive year.

Among the initiatives carried out, there are:

• The successful conference Legislazione nazionale e pratiche di tutela e valorizzazione del patrimonio industriale (National Legislation and Practices to Safeguard and Valorize Industrial Patrimony) on October 21, 2009 in Rome at the Sala delle Colonne at Palazzo Marini, which underlined the need for a law on the safeguarding of industrial cultural assets.
  This initiative, organized in cooperation with the Icsim (Institute for corporate culture and history) "Franco Momigliano" and with the Association of former members of the Italian Republic members, highlighted the need to confront the problems of safeguarding directly through the involvement of parliamentary commissions willing to pass a bill on the preservation and the valorization of the industrial patrimony through the Italian government.
• The contacts with Legambiente for the organization of common activities; first of all that concerning the use of the soil; the approval of an (official) agreement with the Società Geografica Italiana (Italian geographical society) and the meeting with other interlocutors such as Federculture and Assorestauro were very relevant.
• The conference Il patrimonio industriale come risorsa economica: recupero e valorizzazione, (Industrial Patrimony as an Economic Resource: Recovery and Valorization) organized in 2009 in Venice in cooperation with the Regional Section of Aipai within the 5th Show of the Restoration and the Cultural Assets, which was very successful in terms of participation and positive feedback. During the show, the Parco Nazionale Tecnologico e Archeologico delle Colline Metallifere Grossetane presented the volume edited by Massimo Preite Masterplan la valorizzazione del paesaggio minerari.

Within the regional initiatives, it is worth mentioning the conferences held in Umbria and Emilia Romagna.

• The conference in Umbria on the theme of patrimonies ― some destroyed, others at risk and occasionally properly valorized ― brought to the attention of relevant institutions the destiny, sometimes disastrous, of valuable testimonies of labor and industrial cultural history of the Umbrian territory. The initiative stimulated a debate with the aim of pushing this region to adopt a legislation able to apply appropriate and shared methods to reconstruct, preserve and hand down the memory of an industrial patrimony of this region.
• The conference, organized in Emilia Romagna, showed the most important artifacts of the territory, as well as some examples of retrieval and valorization to explain the central role played by sites of industrial archaeology within the local policies of development.

In addition, the final outcome of the activities on the Italian territory in recent years, regarding research, projects, training and publications, is has proven to be more than satisfactory.