The Tower of San Domenico. A Knowledge Project for the Restoration of the Walls of Vico nel Lazio

Abstract The consolidation intervention carried out in the 1980s on the Torre di San Domenico, a significant element of the defensive walls of Vico nel Lazio (FR), now provides a critical opportunity to reflect upon past operational practices and their implications for historic heritage. The analysis does not merely reconstruct the executed intervention but employs it as a starting point to investigate the responsibilities and consequences of conservation actions on an ancient building, highlighting the necessity of a conscious and integrated design approach. The proposed perspective combines targeted surveys, in-depth knowledge acquisition, and interpretative diagnostics, conceived not merely as technical tools but as critical instruments to understand the material, structural, and historical complexity of the artefact. Within this framework, the Torre di San Domenico functions as a methodological laboratory for the entire mural system of Vico, a pilot case in which to test the limits and potentials of a restoration project founded on knowledge, design responsibility, and the capacity to integrate multidisciplinary expertise.