Lost in translation. How the language of restoration (and restoration itself) has changed since the
Charter of Venice until nowadays
The ceaseless hermeneutic effort that regulates the relationship between words and meanings is an expression
of the critical spirit of Western Modern culture, which has changed the way we speak according to epoch
and geo-cultural context. As in other fields of expertise, the lexicon of restoration plays an important role,
as it expresses origins and purposes of ideas and actions aimed at preserving the memory of the past: in
Europe, the desire to define restoration may be considered a consequence of the scientific development of
the discipline. Therefore, because terminology plays such an important role in the field of restoration, the
effort of translating in different idioms other than the one in which our thoughts originate, seems today
crucial.
It is otherwise evident that difficulties in translating are not a sign of linguistic (in)compatibility but of
cultural diversity; they should therefore be welcomed as they compel a strict reflection about today’s
significance of words, and about the reverberations they produce bouncing from one language to another
and from one culture to another.
This paper stresses the translatability of the restoration lexicon against clichés according to which translations
contain inherent limit, which instead comply to our ability/will to communicate, and draws back in cause
the aforementioned critical approach which, as the culture of conservation (and life itself) teaches , offers
awareness of ours being in the world.
