FACCIATE PALINSESTO / PALIMPSEST FACADES

The volume analyses a selected series of "palimpsest facades" of buildings of medieval foundation between Italy and France, in which transformation, restoration and redecoration interventions carried out in later eras speak of the human and material history of cities and their spaces. Facades are an expression of the buildings’ intended uses, and at the same time vehicles of political, social and cultural messages. Within the complex phenomena of renovation, restoration, and reconstruction, external pictorial and sculptural decorations therefore play a role of great importance, revealing events and interests that transition from the private to the public sphere. Often reconstructable only through written sources, or denounced by the still visible material traces, changes and transformations represent a manifestation of the processes of historical memory and the dynamics that accompany them. These essays, in Italian and English, address previously unpublished aspects of fundamental monuments of medieval art, from Saint Denis in Paris to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, passing through the Cathedral of Reims and San Petronio in Bologna. Text in English and Italian.