1. The evolution of the concept of monument: relationships with the aesthetics and historiography.
Terminology issues: restoration, preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and maintenance.
2. Meaning and role of the monument in the pre-modern tradition.
The Middle Ages: continuity, detachment, ancient knowledge. Revival and restoration of antiquity in
Sixteenth century the attitude towards the Middle Ages. The attention to the Christian antiquities in the sixteenth century. Developments in the Baroque.
3. The birth of modern restoration: the Eighteenth century. The restoration in painting and sculpture patina. The figure of the restorer and the role of scholars: L. Crespi, B. Cavaceppi and J.J. Winckelmann;
P. Edwards in Venice. Conservation and design in architectural restoration; the question of the stability of the buildings.
4. Restoration, archeology, Neoclassicism: the experiences on ancient monuments in Rome and in Italy in Nineteenth century. Legislation and the organization of protection in the pre-unification Italian states.
5. Protection and conservation in France. The Museum of A. Lenoir. The positions of A.-Ch. Quatremère de Quincy.The phase "empirical" restoration. The activities of the Commission des Monuments Historiques and training the principles of stylistic restoration.
6. E.-E. Viollet-le-Duc. The theoretical production: the Dictionnaire. The main restoration: the Madeleine in Vezelay, Notre-Dame in Paris, the palace synod of Sens; Carcassonne, the castle of Pierrefonds.
7. Addresses aesthetic and literary England in the eighteenth century: the garden and the ruins.
The impact on the restoration: J. Wyatt. AW Pugin and the thought of John Ruskin and its European coverage.
Restoration and revival in the nineteenth century English: G.G. Scott. W. Morris and the work of the Society for Protection ofAncient Buildings.
8. Restoration and architectural debate in the mid-nineteenth century Italy: Lombardy and the Kingdom of Naples. Controversy and restoration in Venice. Camillo Boito: theoretical principles, achievements and the influence on the national debate.
9. Conservation and restoration in Italy in the late nineteenth century. The relationship between history-restoration in L. Beltrami. Knowledge and reinvention of the past: A. D'Andrade and A. Rubbiani.
10. The conservation of historical city: C. Sitte, Ch Buls. Developments in German: the contribution of A. Riegl. G. Giovannoni: old town and new buildings. The historical method, the theoretical positions on the restoration.
11. The Athens Charter, the comparison between the international experience and the Italian contribution.
The legislative framework and achievements in Italy between the two world wars.
12. The Second World War and the problem of reconstruction. The restoration as a critical act: Pica, Bread, Bonelli. The Venice Charter.
13. The thought of Cesare Brandi assumptions, conceptual articulations, results of application. The activities of the Istituto Centrale del Restauro.
14. The current debate: the "pure conservation" and the focus on material culture.
15. Theory and practice of restoration today: the issue of authenticity, contemporary architecture
and assistance on the works of the past, the restoration of the architecture of the twentieth century.
16. Protection and restoration in Abruzzo, works and debates from the nineteenth to the twentieth century.