La ricerca nel restauro strutturale. Sicurezza sismica e consapevolezza storico­costruttiva. Il nodo culturale della recente normativa

Guidelines for Evaluation and Mitigation of Seismic Risk to Cultural Heritage(2010) is a document that translates into better operational levels the long-recognised need to match the achievement of safety levels with the cultural requirements of seismic safeguarding. The introduction of the ‘confidence factor’ as a representation of our level of knowledge of historic buildings and improvements made to them subordinates the quantitative method of numerical tests to the cognitive methods and tools used in restoration. For this reason, this factor requires a close dialogue between ‘restorers’ (less inclined to understanding structural aspects) and ‘structural engineers’ (who focus on numerical evaluations only). This paper aims to reflect on the decisive role of restoration research in structural consolidation, as a way of guaranteeing an understanding of the historical and construction aspects of architectural heritage. Indeed, despite the efforts of the Guidelines, the ‘path to knowledge’ is generally still superficial and marginal to professional practices, resulting in an alteration of the identifying characteristics of historical architecture.