The Dialectic Between Ancient and Contemporary in the Restoration of the Tower of the SS. Quattro Coronati Monastery in Rome

The restoration of the thirteenth-century tower of the monastery of SS. Quattro Coronati in Rome was created from a multidisciplinary perspective, with particular attention to the use of a language that is both traditional and contemporary for the reintegration of the walls that constitute the reading text of the architecture, responding to the most current principles in field of restoration. The project redefines the spaces and volumes while respecting the ancient state of fact, but proposing a new version that meets the contemporary needs of using the premises according to the concept of integrated conservation. The most modern sustainability needs were taken into great consideration, with the use of recycled and natural materials, coming from the archaeological excavation of the tower, the latter being a main characteristic of traditional architecture, as well as particular attention to increasingly perfectly integrated, which, as demonstrated in several recent studies, can also be obtained with passive systems and traditional techniques used appropriately. These interventions were pursued in compliance with the concepts of distinguishability, minimum intervention and reversibility, declined with respect to the evaluation of the historical and aesthetic aspects of the building, with particular attention to the authenticity of the material and aimed at restoring a unitary but stratified image of the monument.