THE STONES OF CASTEL DEL MONTE: CONSERVATION, DECAY, AUTHENTICITY. A HUNDRED YEARS OF DEBATES AND PRACTICE

Anita Guarnieri1, Andrea Pane2

1Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali della Puglia, Strada dei Dottula, Isolato 49, 70122 Bari

anita.guarnieri@beniculturali.it

2Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Storia dell’Architettura e Restauro,

via Monteoliveto 3, 80134 Napoli a.pane@unina.it

ABSTRACT

Castel del Monte is one of the most significant monuments of Southern Italy, not only for its extraordinary values, but also for the specific issue of restoration. Since the 1880’s the castle underwent many interventions, from those carried out by Sarlo and Quagliati – which led to the first loss in term of authenticity – to a more conservative phase, directed by Chierici and Ceschi during the 1930’s. All these interventions were mainly focused on the external surfaces of the castle, and were accompanied by lively debates concerning both the criteria adopted and the results achieved.

A second significant intervention was carried out during the 1960’s, behind the justification of a wide decay process, against a technical solution which appeared soon after to be unsatisfying in terms of durability. As a matter of fact, since the early 1970’s, the castle needed a new conservation process, carried out using the silicon resin, which increased the protection of surfaces but altered the chromatic aspect of the stones.

This continuous process of transformation, which affected the stones of Castel del Monte for over one hundred years, proceeded together with the evolution of the theoretical and practical issues concerning the conservation of architectural surfaces. Thus, the castle appears today like a paradigmatic case to analyze not only the historic evolution of limestone surface conservation, but also the durability of the recent techniques and their outcomes in terms of authenticity.

Key-words: Surfaces, stones, authenticity, conservation, Castel del Monte