The object of this essay is first of all to sketch the theoretical outlines of the problem uniting school and territory, notably by illustrating it with the analysis of the experiment carried out in this matter by the local actors in the Italian valley of Sérino, secondly to present the Observatory of the Rural School (ORS), whose research concerns the school specificities of the rural and mountain environment as well as to present its European partners who are going to integrate the REIT9.