I cinquant'anni della Carta di Venezia: attualità dei principi e operatività contemporanea
In: Quaderni dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Architettura: n.s. 2019, 2020
DOI: 10.48255/1053
Fifty Years of the ‘Carta di Venezia’: topical principles and contemporary operation
The essay is about contemporary architectural restoration, the results of which require reflection.
This is because many such results are not true to art, recognized historical culture of bearing witness
nor the awareness of the reasons and contexts that created and transformed the architecture that is to be
worked on with supposed principles of protection and conservation in mind.
One notes an ignored knowledge of a multifaceted and complex historical process of construction: a
collection of materials, structures and shapes, inspired by the knowledge of the time and by diversity of
use. To work on such structures and perform a restoration, only a mature, disciplined idea can coherently
ensure their enhanced value. But unlike in the not too distant past, currently, such disciplined principles
are not respected and architectural restoration too often merely obeys a recurrent law of respect for the
economic value of the structure and its reuse and thus the appeal of a newer image and effect prevails.
That which serves the needs of a widespread cultural devolution, cannot help but subtract much from
current professionalism of architects.