“L’idea di castello non muore”: gli echi della Carta di Venezia nell’attività dell’Istituto Italiano dei Castelli. Spunti dalle riviste dell’Istituto

In 1964, the same year as the Venice Charter, Pietro Gazzola founded the Istituto Italiano dei Castelli with the aim of promoting the study of fortified structures and, above all, of raising public awareness of the need to protect, preserve and enhance these artefacts which, in today’s world, have lost their original function. The Institute’s two periodicals, “Cronache castellane” and “Castellum”, from their first issue in 1965, provide a remarkable insight into the way in which the organisation approached the problems of conservation and restoration of fortified architecture. In particular, the early issues show how Gazzola and the other members of the Institute were sensitive to the impulses of the Venice Charter and tried to reflect on how the indications of the document could be useful in the context of the modern life of fortifications. Through the analysis of the two journals, this essay considers some case studies of the operational consequences of the Venice Charter implemented by the Istituto Italiano dei Castelli.