  Graph transformation systems (GTS) have been successfully proposed as a
general, theoretically sound model for concurrency. Petri nets (PN), on the
other side, are a central and intuitive formalism for concurrent or distributed
systems, well supported by a number of analysis techniques/tools. Some PN
classes have been shown to be instances of GTS. In this paper, we change
perspective presenting an operational semantics of GTS in terms of Symmetric
Nets, a well-known class of Coloured Petri nets featuring a structured syntax
that outlines model symmetries. Some practical exploitations of the proposed
operational semantics are discussed. In particular, a recently developed
structural calculus for SN is used to validate graph rewriting rules in a
symbolic way.
