Gustavo Giovannoni e i restauri di “liberazione” nell’ospedale di S. Giovanni al Laterano

Gustavo Giovannoni and the restoration works for the “liberation” of the medieval structures in San Giovanni al Laterano hospital By the Commission for the Study of the Medieval Churches of Rome, established by the Ministry of Education, the works on the medieval structures of San Giovanni Hospital were promoted. The works, carried on between 1927 and 1930, were directed by Gustavo Giovannoni. Illustrating the works carried out in some writings, Giovannoni defined the taken actions as a ‘restoration’, describing them as a typical case of the so-called “liberation” category, he formerly theorized. The consideration of the published and archival documents – today stored among the Centro di Studi per la Storia dell’Architettura Archive, the Archivio Centrale dello Stato and the Archivio Capitolino – allows to outline the premises, the design process, the operating procedures and the outcomes, as well as to specify the cultural scene, institutions and figures involved, among which major architectural and political personalities emerge.