The St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum will feature an “Italian Day” on Saturday, designed to pay tribute to one of Brand Italy’s areas of excellence: cultural heritage conservation There are two elements, organisers said, that are unique to Italy: a very high density of cultural heritage spread across its national territory, and the world’s oldest rules governing the protection of cultural heritage, developed by Italian States prior to the country’s unification. The event, which will focus on industrial heritage, will be chaired by architecture historian Federica Rossi (visiting professor at Moscow’s MARCHI and researcher at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut) and opened by the Italian Consul General in St. Petersburg, Leonardo Bencini.
The debate will highlight the ties between the Italian and Russian industrial heritage and will focus on the attention that the Russian Federation pays to requalifying its industrial facilities, especially considering that Russia had to decommission most of the Soviet Union’s industries. Factories were often established in buildings designed by famous constructivist architects during the Russian vanguard period.
This is why Russia’s industrial heritage needs to be requalified and rehabilitated and why this is the topic of the event at which Italian experts will share their experiences in this specific field, also bearing in mind similar cases in Britain, France and Denmark.
