In the international scenario the process of economic, social and cultural globalization has increased competition among cities and territories, stressing necessity to build a territorial brand able to express the unique and distinctive positioning of that territory. The irst part of this paper deepens the theoretical framework for understanding the development of the place branding and city branding. The second part investigates the development of the Bologna City Branding Project. Analysis of the perception of Bologna’s image was the starting point of construction of the identity of the city, which constitutes the substance preceding the brand. The further step was characterized by the identiication of the logo and the identiication concept of the Bologna brand. The last phase proposes to reposition the city through valorisation, communication and management of the city branding seen as strategic communication.