“Rodi antica, medievale e cavalleresca”: exemplary restoration of a Walled City during the Italian Colonialism

May 1928: a large Italian delegation, a compact foreign representation and a selected number of university professors, welcomed by Mario Lago, Governor of the Aegean Islands, gather for the I International Archaeological Convention of Rhodes. The event, which follows those of Tripoli, Cagliari and Florence, will engage them in the visit of the monuments, and opens with the inauguration of Fert, the Historical Archaeological Institute of Rhodes which proves a fifteen years of Italian "mission", researches and restorations. Within a huge and strong critical framework, aware of the essays proposed in the past editions of the conference (Scaduto, 2016; Aterini&Nocentini 2016) the contribution will be moved towards the analysis of the debate, as presented in journals, to highlight, through operators - archaeologists, architects but also engineers and soldiers - the different models proposed to restore the ‘Rodiese’ architecture and its fortified urban system but also to enquire whether they have been recognized as an ‘exempla’ for other Mediterranean sites.