Arte e scienza nel dibattito sul restauro architettonico fra le due guerre. Il contributo di Roberto Papini

The essay focuses on the theoretical approach of the Historian of Art Roberto Papini (1883-1957) to architectural preservation in the years between the two wars. In those years, when art and politics intertwined a solid relationship and restoration became a medium for attracting ideological consensus, Papini tried to study an approach for the project of restoration which, free from any prevalent theory, had to be only ruled by a dialectical connection between technique and art, hence between the artistic values of the historical building and the specific competences of technicians. However, ambiguities and contradictions characterize his theoretical approach to restoration and even if Papini is considered an exponent of the “restauro critico”, his ideas in relation to architectural preservation reflects the difficulties of that generation of scholars who had grown up in the phase of cultural transition from Positivism to Idealism.