Restoration, history and the present: ten video lessons
In April 2021 RIVA published on its YouTube channel a course of ten video lessons, given by Enzo Medardo Costantini, which take the viewer through the history of restoration and its contemporary vision. A course conceived for those who work in the field, for students and for anyone who wants to understand what it means, today, to care for a historic building.
The history of the discipline
The first lessons trace the evolution of restoration: from Viollet-le-Duc to the Venice Charter of 1964, through post-war and post-earthquake interventions, with the questions of authenticity and belonging that still guide choices on site today.
Restoration and territory
A second group of lessons concerns the impact of restoration on the territory: maintenance as a strategy, the enhancement of heritage, the figures of the cultural sector read through quality of life and tourism in Italy. It is the part closest to the firm’s philosophy, according to which «the best restoration is the one that does not have to be done»: constant care avoids radical interventions for neglected pathologies, which is why at the end of the works the firm always hands over a maintenance booklet with scheduled checks of the building.
Concrete experience
Lessons six to nine lead into the sites: Rome with Piazza di Spagna and Palazzo Mignanelli, the Quirinale Palace, Milan with Teatro alla Scala. These are the places where the firm’s method has been measured against different surfaces, materials and clients: the historic plasters, stones and frescoes of the Roman palazzi restored between 2014 and 2017, the gilding and stuccoes of the theatre the firm has cared for since 1946. The lessons show how the theoretical choices of the first part of the course turn into concrete decisions on the scaffold. The tenth lesson draws conclusions on the psychological and economic impact of conservation restoration on the territory; a bonus film, «RIVA e il restauro conservativo», closes the series.
The video lessons
- Restoration, an introduction (in Italian)
- The evolution of restoration: from Viollet-le-Duc to the Venice Charter of 1964 (in Italian)
- The evolution of restoration: post-war and post-earthquake work; authenticity and belonging (in Italian)
- Restoration and territory: maintenance and the enhancement of heritage (in Italian)
- The cultural sector: quality of life and tourism in Italy (in Italian)
- Restoration and concrete experience (in Italian)
- Restoration and concrete experience: Rome, Piazza di Spagna and Palazzo Mignanelli (in Italian)
- Conservation restoration in practice: Palazzo Mignanelli and the Quirinale Palace (in Italian)
- Restoration in practice: Milan, Teatro alla Scala (in Italian)
- Conservation restoration and its psychological and economic impact on the territory: conclusions (in Italian)
Bonus film: RIVA e il restauro conservativo.
The course is freely available on the firm’s YouTube channel; all the lessons are also collected in the Videos & lectures section.