Book excerpt: This paper deals with a noticeable paradox: while restrictive policies affect the nominations for the World Heritage List, encouraging proposals provided with a comprehensive point of view and participatory approaches are strongly recommended since the start of the project, the World Heritage status meets an increasing opposition from the local communities. These outcomes seem to be due to the obsolete objectives through which managers face the nomination: in spite of evidences, proponents keep the expectation for greater tourism revenues after the listing, maintain the habit of postponing the community involvement until the designation is achieved and disregard the need for innovative viewpoints within the site. However, the World Heritage status can be regarded as a heritage-based local development project which manages over a long period of time conservation and innovation, economy and commitment, skills and awareness.