Ilrestauro della pietra: fra teoria e necessità.

According to the theory of restoration, interventions on degraded stone are made with products and materials different from the original ones, but compatible with its physical characteristics and feature behaviours. This approach, in the conservation of original material, is looking for the main objective of the intervention. This attitude contrasts with an ancient tradition who contemplates the possibility of replacing a degraded element with one of the same origin and nature, possibly wrought and installed with the same unchanged and traditional techniques. In this case the concept of restoration is indistinguishable from that of maintenance, and the meaning of this is maintaining the object in perfect efficiency. These philosophies are obviously so different but they both take care of the same important question: the conservation of the artwork. Architects today, they have an approach less idealized than once, just because they do not know really and directly the stone. It’s probably that the current dominant thought in relation to conservation has a common cultural roots with contemporary designers: the lack of direct knowledge of the stone material creates a detachment that makes it more difficult to accept the sacrifice and then the replacement of even one small piece of stone or marble. The examples to compare these concepts are many, but we observe the importance of latest developments in which the two philosophies have found points of contact to get better results mediating between theory and needs.