Safety that passes through prevention, combined with protection and conservation, but also the regeneration of the urban fabric and the no longer postponeable reduction of soil consumption: these are the themes at the center of the First Study Day on the Safety of Cultural Heritage, in program today at the Auditorium of the National Central Library in Rome.
Museums lack programming for safety
The day was opened by Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, who reiterated not only how much the issue of cultural heritage safety corresponds “to one of the strategic interests of the entire nation”, but also the importance of “doing prevention, because we just need to intervene when the damage is done, but also have serious and effective planning». «Prevention allows for considerable economic savings because intervening afterwards, especially after earthquakes and floods is very expensive, and as far as Italian museums are concerned, I am struck by the fact that most of them do not have a very clear planning of the interventions that must be carried out over a period of a decade,” continued the minister.
Pnrr resources for heritage security
«The positive fact is that in the Pnrr there are important funding lines on the issue of safety: it is my firm intention to spend the resources that are provided by Europe in an efficient, honest and prudent manner». In the minister’s speech also the issues of the extremely fundamental assessment of seismic and hydrogeological risk in Italy, as well as the problem of reducing soil consumption as well as vandalism and neglect with which heritage assets often find themselves accounts, issues then raised and explored during the conference, which was attended by experts from various disciplines and representatives of institutions, from Massimo Osanna (general manager of the Museums Department) to Marica Mercalli (general manager of Cultural Heritage Security) to Alessandra Marino (director of the Center for Restoration).
The safety deposits of works of art
Among the most important focuses of the day was that relating to the conservation of movable assets in the post-emergency phase and the creation of small temporary museum structures connected to the safety deposits that are being planned throughout the national territory (following the Pnrr-Recovery Art line of intervention ), reporting the positive experience of the Santo Chiodo deposit in Spoleto in which the works from the places of the 2016 earthquake are kept.