When compared with of other wind turbine the Savonius wind rotor offers lower performance in terms of power coefficient, on the other hand it offers a number of advantages as it is extremely simple to built, it is self-starting and it has no need to be oriented in the wind direction. Although it is well suited to be integrated in urban environment as mini or micro wind turbine it is inappropriate when high power is requested. For this reason several studies have been carried-out in recent years in order to improve its aerodynamic performance. The aim of this research is to gain an insight into the complex flow field developing around a Savonius wind rotor and to evaluate its performance. A mathematical model of the interaction between the flow field and the rotor blades was developed and validated by comparing its results with data obtained at Environmental Wind Tunnel (EWT) laboratory of the "Polytechnic University of Marche". (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.