East and Centre) of Italy, where after the Second World War geographical concentration of specialised small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) raised up, led to an increasing attention to the Marshall' seminal works. A growing literature with an accompanying cloud of definitions of what is meant as an industrial district characterised the international dabate, e.g. Cluster. Industrial districts in Italy have a coherent location and a narrow specialisation profile, e.g. Prato in woollen fabric, Sassuolo in ceramic tiles or Brenta in ladies' footwear. The success of SME-based Italian districts in the last century and the alternate fortunes of the current ones led to investigate more thoroughly some related aspects. The general characteristics of the ID are consistent with gradual change supported by processes of innovation from below, or decentralized industrial creativity. However, the globalisation processes asked non-gradual changes to the historical IDs and technical and organisational difficulties could hit them. In the Industry 4.0 era, the specialised capabilities of these areas seem to have the possibility to encourage the emergence of the New Artisans, Maker in the context of adapted models like the "ID mark 3.0". See also Company town Creative city Industrial park Mega-Site Mill town References Secondary sector of the economy Industrial