Restoration, Strengthening and Planning in Italian and German Reconstruction after World War II: Essay in Three Steps

Post-WWII reconstruction took place at a time of fundamental importance for our understanding of the divide, theoretical and technical, between consolidation, reconstruction, and restoration. Indeed, this period represents the moment in which the earliest stages of this rift emerged. In this essay, we shall attempt to provide an account of this phenomenon by citing case studies considered significant within the Italian and German context: post-WWII reconstruction work in the Veneto region (at crucial sites such as the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, the Palazzo dei Trecento in Treviso and the Church of the Eremitani in Padua), reconstruction of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, and reconstruction and work for new use of the hospital, Ospedale Maggiore, in Milan, as a seat for the Università Statale. Considering these instances provides us with an opportunity to reconsider the transition, theoretical and technical, between conservation of ruins and reconstruction of memory.