Il de-restauro: conflittualità tra principi operativi nell’intervento sul restauro archeologico novecentesco / De-restoration: conflicts between operative principles in interventions on 20th-century archaeological restorations

Abstract

The 20th century has been characterised by great experimentation in architecture, both in new construction and in restoration. The latter assumed new meanings, raising new questions to which answers were found through advancements in historical, artistic, and technological knowledge, and reinterpreting the discipline’s fundamental principles in the proposed solutions, ranging from the more traditional to the most innovative. The archaeological site became a favoured field for experimentation, both from a scientific and a political perspective, proving promising and strategic. However, while theoretical progress informed operative approaches, it also cast doubt on the validity of restorations carried out over the century. Today, it is inevitable to reevaluate how one should approach the interventions still standing, recent enough to be considered correctable, yet integrated into the multi-layered history and image of the monuments.