Assorestauro

Founded in 2005, the Italian Association for Architecture, Art and Urban Restoration is the first Italian association of purveyors of materials, equipment, technology and services created for the cultural assets restoration and conservation sector, nationwide and internationally. It promotes studies and research, gathers data useful to the sector, analyzes market situations and trends; it helps prepare international standards that qualify member companies whom it assists and aids in getting quality and safety certification for their products and services.

BRIDGES OF DIALOGUE

The association fosters dialogue with the institutional world, that is, with the institutions and organizations protecting cultural assets: the Italian Cultural Assets and Activities Ministry, the Ministry for Economic Development, the Italian Trade Commission, standardization boards and the academic world. In Italy we often complain about the distance that lies between the business world and the academic. An important bridge for dialogue between them has been constitution of a Technical Scientific Committee, a scientific consultancy team composed of renowned faculty members at Italy’s major schools of restoration and conservation (the Milan Polytechnic, La Sapienza University in Rome, the Universities of Padua, Ferrara, Brescia and Genoa).

CONFERENCES

The first was held in Genoa and, in collaboration with Assorestauro’s Technical-Scientific Committee, concerned the city’s port waterfront. The second was held at the Maniace Castle in Syracuse and titled “Seismic Risk and Sicilian Churches. Five Cases in the Southeast”. The Bovisa branch of the Milan Polytechnic was host to: “Recouping Abandoned Industrial Areas: Just a Local Resource or a Cultural Asset to be Protected?”. The SAIE show in Bologna hosted a conference on historic towns in seismic zones. A conference in Rome, sponsored by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and with CEI speakers, discussing the restoration/conservation of ecclesiastic assets. The association and its members participated in a number of seminars and workshops the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) organized abroad, including one in Tel Aviv, Israel, and another in Beirut, Lebanon on Italian conservation methods and materials.

WORKSITE SCHOOLS AND TRAINING COURSES

The association has been tasked by the Italian Trade Commission to devise training and technical assistance projects aimed at the conservational restoration of important sites worldwide, including the supply of the excellent machinery, equipment and materials made by Italian member companies. These projects provide examples of Italian work methods and equipment for the purpose of job training on every level, from work and worksite supervision to workers themselves, and to foster cooperation and experience- sharing between each country’s experts. Restoration projects include the Peter the Great Door on the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Clock Tower on the Dolmabhaçe Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. On behalf of ICE the association has also held training courses in Italy, with tours of prestigious sites at which Assorestauro members are working.

TRADESHOWS

Assorestauro exhibits at the Restoration show in Ferrara and SAIE Show in Bologna with its own stand, in the services center.