Restoration and Ruins. Achievements and theoretical issues

The culture of restoration seems to have no spokesperson today. Supporters of reconstructions in the logic of the monument aim to widen the participation of increasingly large sections of citizens to heritage themes. However, this attempt is serving the connivance with strong economic and political interests, which exploit cultural heritage for other purposes, not easy relatable to conservative needs. Analogously, the tendency of absolute respect for authenticity have opened to the issue of planned conservation, claiming a role in the decision-making processes leading the territory. This contribution does not provide definitive solutions, but it tries to offer a perspective on the diverse cultural landscape of today, through a set of cases. All the different approaches examined coexist within a path that is as present as it is uncertain. The different experiences involve the quality of the ‘substance’ that has come down to us: often such a residual and fragmented matter as to question the very possibility and usefulness of being preserved. However, while it is true that the absence of certainty is a fact, it is also true that the debate on how the present and its heritage relate is constantly renewed through the interpretation of different skills.