«... come vedetta prominente su un gomito leggero del fiume».
The restoration project of Piero Sanpaolesi for the castle of Vignola. 1969-1970
Piero Sanpaolesi, one of the protagonists of the reconstruction in Italy after the end of WWII, plans, between 1969 and 1970, the restoration of the Castle of Vignola (BO): a fortress, built at the beginning of the 14th Century, and transformed several times over the centuries. Prof. Sanpaolesi, member of the Italian Institute of Castles (founded by Piero Gazzola in 1964 to ensure the knowledge and enhancement of fortified architecture), had already designed and partly carried out the restoration of another castle in 1967: Castelsismondo in Rimini. The essay deals with the main moments of ‘failed restoration’ of Vignola’s Fortress; it analyses the research carried out and partly published, the surveys of the castle and the project dating 1970 and never realized. However, the project allows us to appreciate once again Piero Sanpaolesi’s lesson in method of which so much has been written. A lesson on the basis of which putting the hand of a building implies having historical preparation, theoretical, technological but also professional skills acquired through field practice.
