La documentazione degli interventi di restauro quale strumento di verifica in fase di collaudo

In the building activity as well as in the conservation practice, the final testing phase is generally understood as the last step that marks the end of the construction site and allows the use of the new or of the restored building. At the end of the work, the Italian law on public works establishes that, in addition to an updated one maintenance plan, two reports must be drawn up: a ‘technical-scientific report’ (drawn up by professionals belonging to their respective competences, aimed to clarify the cultural and scientific results achieved) and a specific ‘scientific report’ for the activities concerning cultural heritage (prepared by the director of the works). This process is fairly well defined in the construction sites aimed at new constructions and, at most, in case of specific structural works (which are obligatorily subject to static testing); while it appears generic and, consequently, often lacking, above all technical point of view, in the context of cultural heritage. The paper intends to reflect on the role of documentation and on its specific use that it could assume in the conservation. Indeed, the documentation can assume the character of an important fil rouge that seamlessly crosses the restoration activity: from the initial phase of data collection concerning the historical building, to the subsequent development of the project, to the management of the works, to the final inspection of the interventions carried out, until to the possible dissemination and management of data indispensable in a planned conservation activity.