Restauro e Archeologia dell’architettura. Il dibattito italiano negli anni 1970-1990

The relationship between Archaeology of Architecture and Restoration dates back to the 1980s, a time of profound change for both disciplines. Archaeologists have often reconstructed the events that date back to those years, architects have done so less. Reconstructing the birth of this relationship and the context in which it occurred highlights the strong similarities between the events that led Architectural Archaeology to become autonomous from the disciplinary tradition and the one that, in the field of Restoration, gave rise to a movement that promoted a harsh criticism of its tradition based on the historical-aesthetic judgment of a historicist, positivist and neoidealist nature. This criticism brought out the interest in architecture as material testimony and pushed towards new tools of knowledge, among which the stratigraphy of elevations found its place. To trace a critical path, the term palimpsest will be used, following its changes in meaning and operational implications.