Italy has an artistic and historical patrimony indicatively valued at 36 million art pieces, among paintings, monuments, sculptures, statues, frescoes. The curious figure is that Florence has the highest concentration of the entire national treasure, o the attribute of «Capital of restoration» for the Tuscan capital is widely justified. Another thing to keep in minds is that Florence boasts a crafts tradition of extremely high level, restorers and laboratories where ancient trades of the working of wood and metals are passed on.
In this historical cultural context the Istituto per l'Arte e il Restauro «Palazzo Spinelli» finds a suitable location, operating since 1977 as centre for the training, specialisation and keeping up to date of professional figures that are active both in the field of restoration of artistic and historical pieces and in the sector of artistic and creative production.
In twenty four years of activity of the Institute more than 800 courses were activated (and in the specific sector of restoration it counts around 8.000 interventions carried out) making it the centre of excellence for the sector, on an international and national level, which can offer inside an ordainment of university kind a professional formation that is eminently practical, careful to the requirements of the working world and constantly updated on modern technologies and the new intervention philosophies.
The institute is organised in six departments and promotes eighteen institutional courses plus ten more of perfecting, with an average yearly participation of over 400 students, of which over 80% coming from European Community countries. Also, during the summer period there are over a hundred introductory courses to the techniques, and eight Master courses for higher specialisation.
The three Institute’s departments, locate din as many historical palaces in the heart of Florence, are equipped with thirty specialised labs for the various sectors of restoration, study labs as well as multimedia and IT classrooms, library and documents centre. Palazzo Spinelli
The Istituto per l'Arte e il Restauro «Palazzo Spinelli» has taken part at international projects of great stature: in the organisation of the restoration labs for the new Alexandrine Library in Egypt, the training of specialised personnel for the maintenance of library goods and archive of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and many others.
Istituto per l'Arte e il Restauro Palazzo Spinelli
