I metalli nel progetto di restauro. Dal restauro archeologico ad un metodo archeologico per il restauro

During the conference in Athens in 1931, workers visiting and taking as reference the restoration carried out in Greece (Athens and Crete) as the two poles of the same answer to the problem - unsolved - about the conservation of archaeological ruins on one side and restoration of the ruins as an open-air museum on the other. There is a dualism between scenographic attitude, the image of controlled ruin, and the authenticity of the method by which it is adopted a system of two-way rules: preference towards consolidation and its feasibility by adopting modern materials and techniques. Codifying a "scientific" methodology of intervention, anastylosis becomes a practice, or rather a reassuring language, a model of the "workmanlike" for the restoration of the ruins. This initial attempt should be seen and read culturally in the wake of an overcoming of the great experiences of a musealization of the 30s; we may mention the recomposition of Pergamon Museum in Berlin or the Elgin Marbles in British Museum. The musealization of the ruin in situ (instead of the transport of the pieces in the museum) tends to be the goal of the interventions such as the roofing (necessary for the conservation of archaeological walls decorated) or the anastylosis (in case of a large complex in stone). The use of metal in these contexts has in both cases the possibility of making an overview of the evolution of the language of the restoration: from the techniques of archaeological restoration to an archaeological method for the restoration. Some examples commented in the text, express fully the transition described and retrace some themes: from the adoption of integrated systems of iron (hidden inside) as a consolidation and support for fragments (Athen Acropolis, Arena of Verona) to the idea of the use of metals such as multipurpose material that combines in itself the role of protection, consolidation and reintegration of ruin tout court (Villa del Casale di Piazza Armerina, Castello di Rivoli) facilitating the exchange and the intersection of languages which borrow from archaeological practice but which are well-established as a method of intervention for all types of ruin.