SPEAKER:
Architect Beatrice Agostini
Head of the Restoration Department at the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence
SUMMARY:
The Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore is the institution responsible for the protection, conservation, and maintenance of the sculptural and architectural heritage of the monumental complex that includes the Florence Cathedral, Giotto’s Campanile, and the Baptistery of San Giovanni.
The constant need to preserve marble surfaces—which gradually deteriorate over time and under the influence of weather conditions—has always required the expertise of Opera’s highly skilled craftsmen. When the condition of the original elements no longer allows for their effective preservation or proper restoration, they can, if necessary, be replaced with precisely reproduced copies, crafted in the Stone Carving Workshop (Bottega degli Scalpellini), in accordance with the material, formal, and technical characteristics of the originals.
Over the centuries, the traditions and professional expertise of master craftsmen have not been lost but have gradually evolved and been refined in response to the changing demands of conservation. The development of restoration theory and practice, along with an ever-increasing emphasis on the conservation approach, encourages experimentation and the introduction of new techniques and methodologies, particularly with regard to the repair and replacement of damaged elements or those that can no longer be preserved.
Consequently, the solutions implemented arise from an ongoing dialogue between experience, tradition, and innovation. They are developed in accordance with contemporary principles of conservation and restoration, while maintaining a focus on the material, historical, and cultural identity of the heritage entrusted to the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.
Contemporary practice is based on the ability to combine knowledge of traditional materials and techniques with modern tools, methodologies, and criteria for intervention, within a continuous process of transmitting and updating established knowledge and professional skills.
In this context, the experience of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore serves as a significant example of continuity between the past and the present: a system in which traditional knowledge and techniques are kept alive through their interaction with new knowledge, technologies, and conservation methodologies.
Opera’s work demonstrates how the preservation of a heritage of such exceptional artistic value can be based on an ongoing dialogue between the transmission of historical experience and the capacity for innovation, thereby ensuring not only the preservation of Florence’s monumental complex but also the continuity of the knowledge and skills that have accompanied its history and remain an essential part of its identity today.
