Interiors of Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte (Villa Reale – “The Royal Villa”) in Milan

Modern Art Gallery of Milan Via Palestro, 16 20121 Milano

Tel 02 88 44 59 47
Fax +39 02 88 44 59 51
E mail c.villareale@comune.milano.it

Visits: Tuesday – Sunday
9:00/13:00 – 14:00/17:30

Restoration of decorations and decorated surfaces

Restoration works between 2005-2007 aimed to preserve all decorations and decorated surfaces inside Villa Reale, damaged by seepages, inadequate previous interventions and several changes in the end use of some areas.
The main challenge faced by restorers was represented by the painting technique, consisting of a lime tempera or by temperas bound with highly water sensitive protein media.
Interior degradation was treated by means of techniques respecting the original materials, trying to make use of inorganic stabilizers similar to the ruined surfaces so to preserve transpiration in view of later tractability.
Interventions were in any case carried out trying to combine traditional Florentine procedures with the most advanced cleaning techniques, recently adopted by Italian restoration research centres.
Low toxicity products were employed, thickened and supported in order to limit retention and control the solvent action.

By Anna Lucchini