Architect

The value of restoration

Architect Pellegrini, the need to give more value to the Italian heritage (artistic, landscape, urban) is often a topic of discussion. There are those who declare that the state of degradation of the landscape has increased, those who lament the lack of a contemporary genius, and those who propose the pulling down of the works that offend Italian aesthetics…
What to keep? What to throw out? How to begin?
In Italy there is an uneasy relationship that must now be built with the agencies set up to protect: the superintendences.
It is important to manage to create a constructive debate to be able to contribute to modifying the system of “protection” or better the system “of not changing absolutely anything”; the point has even been reached in restricted areas to safeguard buildings designed by companies of prefabricated buildings (as happened to me recently).
Before deciding what to hold on to and what to throw out, it is necessary to lock horns with this state body and the same goes for how to build or revamp.

In which area would it be particularly advantageous to intervene?
Restoring with quality is very expensive, but it is worth doing for the value of the property that it would assume over time, and especially for the respect of the landscape and the historical centres.

And would it be a value recognised throughout the world?
Very much so. Ours is an important school: of how one restores and of how one reads the modern intervention compared with the old.

Some interesting examples?
The restoration of the Pilotta in Parma, Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, the restoration of the Verdi theatre in Pisa and the reconstruction of the San Michele borough, again in Pisa.

But how much time would be needed to restore … a Country? What would it cost?
In Italy a great deal of time … the costs would range from 1,250 to 1,500 euro per square meter.
The problem is that Italians are past masters at dampening enthusiasm and not very good at working together; they are too individualistic, they are afraid to compare themselves with others.

Pietro Carlo Pellegrini