Imagination & deception. Le Lampade sull’opera di Alfredo d’Andrade e Alfonso Rubbiani

Historiography ranks Alfredo d'Andrade and Alfonso Rubbiani as opposites to John Ruskin on protection of our architectural cultural heritage. Ruskin supported the idea of conservation instead of restoration, in stark contrast with the practice of staging and reinventing the past, of which d'Andrade and Rubbiani are some of the major proponents in Italy. Although irreconcilable, the work of the latter does not appear to be totally indifferent to Ruskin’s assumptions. Starting from a critical selection of writings and restoration works, this paper offers a crosscutting analysis of these three scholars, focussing and interpreting the results of The Seven Lamps of Architecture. This is the opportunity to investigate the influence of Ruskin’s theories on d'Andrade and Rubbiani, to reflect on the dualism between imagination and deception in restoration and, finally, to revitalize the legacy of an influential scholar and one of the forefathers of European conservation culture.