The "The Culture of Restoration" was launched in Paris on Monday, June 3, 2024. This initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation involves a series of enhancement and restoration projects in Italian Cultural Institutes around the world, in collaboration with the Botticino School of Restoration – Valore Italia.
"The Culture of Restoration represents a particularly successful example of collaboration aimed at promoting Italian cultural heritage on the global stage,"comments Alessandro De Pedys, Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the MAECI, who noted how the project allows various elements of this heritage to be showcased in places that symbolize Italian culture around the world, while offering young scholars in the field an international training opportunity.
As part of the initiative, maintenance and restoration work has begun on several important works of art housed at the Hotel de Galliffet, homeof the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris. This project is also being carried out thanks to the collaboration of Maison de l'Italie, the residence directed by Maria Chiara Prodi, which hosted the group of restorers who arrived from Italy. Contacts have been made with the Italian Cultural Institutes in Beirut, Lima, and Prague for future projects.
"This project becomes a model to follow in promoting the training of young restorers and facilitating their professional integration into the cultural heritage sector, starting from international experiences that promote collaboration between professionals and institutions for the protection and enhancement of historical and artistic heritage," comments Arianna Beretta, Director of the Botticino School of Restoration.
The Botticino School of Restoration, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Milan, offers advanced training, higher education, and continuing education courses in the field of cultural heritage enhancement, conservation, and restoration. The collaboration between the foreign offices of the MAECI network and the School had already been successfully tested in February 2023 with a project at Villa Firenze, the residence of the Italian Ambassador in Washington, which was completed on October 19, 2023, with the inauguration of the restoration work.
