A ‘Restoration Conversation’ at Florence’s Opificio delle Pietre Dure, at the Fortezza da Basso, is a dream come true. On June 13, 2023 presenter Linda Falcone will take viewers into one of the world’s foremost conservation laboratories to speak with Letizia Montalbano, Chief conservator and Director of the OPD School of Advanced Training and Study and Senior Conservators Simona Calza and Guia Rossignoli… and a series of drawings by seventeenth-century artist Maria Luigi Raggi, which are part of the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in Prato's collection. Art on paper and parchment – which can include drawings in charcoal, or other technique such as watercolour, sanguine, woodcut, intaglio, lithography, tempera and more… are among the most fragile works in public collections the world over. Special Guests

The Opificio delle Pietre Dure, hosts a plethora of art-rescue departments ranging from paintings, sculpture, ceramics, bronzes and works on wood, in addition to paper… and its historical iteration was founded in 1588 by Ferdinando I de’ Medici, as a semi-precious stones workshop. The paper restoration department works with traditional drawings and prints, but it also rescues other items constructed using paper – from preparatory cartoons and fans, to papier-mâché statues and ancient geographical globes.

​

This event was sponsored by Calliope Arts and organised in conjunction with The Florentine.