The great beauty of Palazzo Madama in Turin, seat of the first Senate of Italy and a masterpiece of Baroque art, is reborn: a construction site, which will last two years and can be visited by the public by appointment through an internal lift, will make the facade and statues shine.
The intervention, promoted by the Torino Musei Foundation, will be entirely financed with 2.4 million euros by the Crt Foundation, historical private supporter of Palazzo Madama with 16.6 million allocated in total.
The major restoration and consolidation project of the Juvarra facade is a complex "surgical" operation, capable of mixing ancient artisan techniques and cutting-edge methodologies, recovering the original marbles alongside the use of contemporary materials, such as carbon fibers, resin and steel stainless steel in the hidden parts of the building.
The project - approved by Mibact and the Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan city of Turin - is signed by the architect Gianfranco Gritella and involves the recovery and consolidation of all 3,730 marble blocks, the reversible insertion of "prostheses "in steel, the restyling and museum display of the 4 monumental allegorical statues on the top.
A "yard of knowledge" will explore the underground Cantine Juvarra, never revealed to visitors until now.
By spring, the Torino Musei Foundation will publish the call for tenders for the awarding of the works on the central forepart, which will begin before the summer and will last about a year and a half, ending at the end of 2022. "A first gift from the Foundation to the city on our thirtieth birthday which falls in 2021 ", said president Giovanni Quaglia during the presentation.
"A sort of our recovery plan, a transmission of a symbolic asset of the city to future generations" added the secretary general Massimo Lapucci.
"Spectacular - explains architect Gritella - will be the restoration of the four statues by the sculptor Baratta placed on the cornice: they will be taken with a crane and caged in a shed located on the site, where the restoration will be visible to the public. The baroque windows, which will come recovered, are the largest ever made in Piedmont ".
"I don't think it exists in Turin - says the president of the Turin Museums Foundation, Maurizio Cibrario - another monument whose stones contain 2000 years of history, like Palazzo Madama." The start of such a complex construction site gives hope and offers a confirmation of the capacity that the city institutions know how to reserve for monumental heritage ", comments superintendent Luisa Papotti." In such a difficult time for the cultural world, Turin sends a message to the country: thanks to the collaboration with the banking foundations, skills and professionalism present on the territory, to the institutions, such a complicated and burdensome intervention in economic terms is possible "underlines the mayor of Turin, Chiara Appendino.
