Conservando i segni della memoria. Strategie per il Campo di Fossoli (Carpi)

The Campo di Fossoli tells us about some of the most emblematic stories of the Short Twenthieth Century. Unforgettably marked by the events of the Second World War, it was built for the Allied prisoners and quite immediately turned into a dramatic place for Jewish persecution and opponents’ repression. Later a new redemption period interested the Camp as it was used to host the Nomadelfia Community and, then, the Istrian exiles, before the ultimate abandonment in the Seventies. Just before the 2012 earthquake, a collaboration between Fondazione Ex Campo di Fossoli, Bologna University, and Ministry of National Heritage and Culture started, aiming at the protection and conservation of this fragile built Heritage, at pinpointing an immediate safeguard agenda and at defining a possible path to guide visitors through the different stories (i.e., periods of life) of the camp. It consequently identifies a strategy of intervention, based on subsequent and progressive steps to value the consistency and significance of this Monument. This planned maintenance program will be based on different levels of conservative actions, carried out by workers with different skills able to ensure the survival of the relics of the buildings and to help people to comprehend the remaining signs. The paper presents the first results and, above all, the theoretical and methodological aspects of this work in progress, based on the integration between conservation and valorisation (exploitation, development) processes.