Le ambiguità del Moderno. Riflessioni sul restauro e la patrimonializzazione del patrimonio del Novecento / The Ambiguities of the Modern. Reflections on the Restoration and Patrimonialization of Twentieth-Century Heritage

Abstract

The heritage of twentieth-century architecture has long struggled to define its boundaries and its terminology. The coexistence of expressions such as “Restoration of the Modern,” “of the Contemporary,” or “of the Twentieth Century” reveals a profound uncertainty that extends from language to disciplinary practice. Words, far from being neutral, become instruments of legitimization and shape the values attributed to architectural heritage. In the case of modern and contemporary architecture, the overlapping of categories such as modernity, memory, and identity has generated conceptual and methodological ambiguities, particularly when the recent past enters the domain of preservation. The progressive transformation of modern works from testimonies of an era into monuments of collective culture exposes tensions between historical interpretation and aesthetic reconstruction. This essay examines how linguistic shifts, theoretical debates, and heritage policies have contributed to redefining the status of twentieth-century architecture, questioning the criteria of its recognition, the role of authorship, and the meaning of restoration itself. Ultimately, the restoration of the twentieth century emerges as a field suspended between critical interpretation and the construction of new narratives of legitimacy.