With the open restoration of the Merlini Storti studio, art meets people

"The restorers have the great merit of restoring to us the beauty of works that tell of religious sentiment". This was John Paul II's thanks to the team from the Roman studio Merlini Storti that, after five years of work, had restored the frescoes in the pontiff's private flat to their ancient splendour.

Since 1989, Valeria Merlini and Daniela Storti have created a team of restoration artists, who have been entrusted with Caravaggio's masterpieces, from the Madonna of the Pilgrims, the icon of the Jubilee of 2000, to the Adoration of the Shepherds, from Canaletto's St. Mark's Square by Canaletto to Tintoretto's Penitent Magdalene, to Raphael's St. John the Baptist. Entering the workshop in Via del Gesù one enters a sacred temple, where canvases, panels and sculptures that have made art history are in 'care'. A pool of eight people, joined by trainees, take care of them.

However, the bulk of the work is done 'at home', to leave the works in the churches, museums, and buildings where they are located. "Our clients are private individuals, but above all we work for the State," says Valeria Merlini. "Before each intervention, we do the ritual examinations, infrared rays, pigment analysis, etc.. The development of technology has helped us to reduce the time and costs of restoration'.

The Merlini Storti studio also deserves credit for having thought of 'open restoration'. A project created to give the public the opportunity to see specialists at work, to have direct contact with the work beyond museums and exhibitions. "We open our workshop to visitors, by appointment," explains studio manager Arianna Pavoncello, "but we let people witness our work, even when we do it in churches as in galleries, or in state or private buildings. An encounter with the canvases, the adhesives, the oils, that reveals the secrets of restoration, but above all changes the perspective from which one looks at a work of art that, often, in times of the 'net' is only seen on a PC or mobile phone and becomes nothing more than an image'. Convinced that beauty educates, Merlini Storti's restorers brought Luca Giordano's painting, 'The Dispute of Jesus among the Doctors', housed in the Corsini Gallery, to the Roman Visconti High School. "The students came to see the 17th century painting outside of class time," says Valeria Merlini, "without any obligation to do so, and they were enchanted by it. Valeria Merlini's regret is the limited funds available, compared to Italy's enormous artistic heritage. 'A heritage that is not only ours,' Valeria recalls, 'but belongs to humanity. This is why it would perhaps be appropriate to raise funds for its conservation also from private individuals, foundations, organisations. From anyone who shares the importance of art.