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The paper aims to remember the scientific and human contributions of Giovanni Carbonara. He was a professor emeritus of Restoration, and the director of the School of Specialisation in Restoration of Monuments (now, Architectural and Landscape Heritage), in which he lavished his high intellectual and human value with courage and respect. His students have taken up his teachings in various activities, from teaching to research, and professional works. Since the Seventies of the 20th Century, his research has touched many fields of conservation, analytical study, protection, education, and management of cultural heritage. He was an intellectual also involved in various institutional fields for conservation. He was concerned with looking at the teachings of the past with an eye focused on the updates and new developments in the restoration’s thought. He was a promoter of the ‘critical-conservative’ line of restoration.

Unesco’s emphasis on authenticity as a requisite for a site’s interest draws attention back to the materials and substance of architecture. Material authenticity thus takes on the central role it also merits in the operational sphere, as an aim of the project and also as a means of enhancing cities like Venice.This assumption makes areas of detailed study strategic, like that of the medieval masonry in Venice, focusing on the distinctive role of the brick facing on an architectural level and as an urban image related to the historical surfaces. Conservation of these facings requires a meticulous analytical system and raises the question of the project on the fragmented surface, the subject thus becomes a test-bed for a maintenance approach carried out on different levels, in Venice as in any other historical context.

The historic restoration of the Theatre of Marcellus, begun in 1926 and completed in the early 30s, fully reflects the debate on restoration that was underway in Italy on the eve of the Athens conference. In fact, the project addressed all the various themes of restoration, and not merely those specifically tied to the field of archaeology (excavation, consolidation, integration or replacement of missing portions), but also architectural considerations, such as stratifications and the surrounding environment. In the work of integration and consolidation, traditional techniques were used, employing the same materials as in ancient times, along with modern-day ones (reinforced concrete and steel), evaluating each situation as it arose, with the most effective solution determined through direct experimentation in the field.