La componente archeologica dell’edificio e dell’ambiente antico : conservazione e restauro, fra memoria e decoro

We usually think of archeology as the field of dead civilizations, whose physical remains recall us a far and ancestral past, that we are able to approach only as museum pieces. But can we talk about a kind of everyday archeology, that gathers the archeological side of familiar old things we are still using and of ancient buildings that are still lived in? How can we approach those aspects, which are made of spurs and signs of time - that is, often, physical dacay - and, at the same time, making the objects comply with the needs of the present life, without changing them irreversibly? Can we find a way to appreciate them, keeping them outside the museums, that is without denying their still living part, thus granting a proper respect for their age? Perhaps some examples can help us to focus on these and some more questions, leading us to think about the conservative intervention as a possible answer, balancing preservation and need for formal order. That is as a chance to connect the “outside past with the past that is inside ourselves”, as Roberto Pane said.