Carrara, finishes restoration of the Edicola di Fantiscritti, 3rd century bas-relief symbol of the city

The restoration of theEdicola dei Fantiscritti, an important Roman bas-relief from the 3rd century AD and one of the symbols of the city of Carrara, has been completed. The work has returned to its location, the Renaissance courtyard of the Cybo-Malaspina Palace, now home to theAcademy of Fine Arts, which has housed it since 1863: the relief, which depicts three Roman deities (Jupiter, Hercules and Bacchus) and which owes its name to the local dialect (“fanti” means “boys” and refers to the three sculpted figures, “scritti” indicates instead the presence of inscriptions), is also a document that offers significant evidence of the personalities who traveled to Carrara (among the most famous who affixed their signatures to the stele are Giambologna and Antonio Canova).

The restoration was led by Luana Brocani, professor of Restoration of Stone Materials at the Carrara Institute, and the work phases also involved students from the course. The objective of the intervention: to restore legibility to the work, which had been suffering from surface deterioration over time. “The work,” explained Luana Brocani, “was entirely covered by a dark patina formed by a surface layer of dust, of fair thickness, and under it a more entrenched layer of a greasy nature that made illegible many names and dates that testify to the succession of illustrious visitors until its detachment from the Fantiscritti quarry and subsequent placement inside the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara. The cleaning was carried out with the wrap technique, which consists of a paste formed by cellulose pulp in ammonium carbonate that was applied and left to act for the necessary time; then it was removed with spatulas and the marble surface was rinsed with water and brushes. A grout that made the inscriptions illegible was also removed, and in the process of refitting it was replaced with a more suitable fitting.”

“The restoration carried out by Professor Brocani,” emphasizes Academy director Luciano Massari, “is one of the many interventions we are carrying out for the conservation and enhancement of our collections. In recent years we have recovered the Chini stained glass windows, restored a series of wall paintings, and rearranged the ancient library holdings. As for the aedicule of the Fantiscritti, it was already in a deplorable condition at the beginning of the 19th century, when it was described by Giuseppe Antonio Guattani, an erudite Roman antiquarian academician of San Luca. The restoration we carried out at the Academy allows us to have greater usability of the work. New inscriptions that were previously covered up have reappeared, and I do not exclude that in the near future we may undertake a study of this unique ’visitors’ book’: it would be interesting to identify non-illustrious signatures and investigate the lives of those who left them.”

Moreover, the intervention on the Fantiscritti Wayside Shrine falls on anniversary number 250 since the founding of the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts, which began its activities in 1769.

Carrara, finishes restoration of the Edicola di Fantiscritti, 3rd century bas-relief symbol of the city

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