Quando il cantiere ‘fa scuola’. Il restauro del Castello di Cly dall’esperienza del cantiere-scuola al progetto AVER

The construction site plays a crucial role in the process that leads to the intervention on historical architectures: it turns design into something real, being at the same time an effective tool for knowledge and experimentation, a breeding ground for testing previous restoration activities and for planning future conservation programs, an interdisciplinary training hub to gain specific expertise and know-how. Through the analysis of the restoration works carried out on the Cly Castle and with particular reference to fortified buildings in ruins, this paper aims to reflect on the cultural and relational bonds that the construction site creates between the architecture and stakeholders involved in the enhancement process, by leveraging, specifically, on the importance of education in the field of architectural restoration. Planned according to the ‘construction site-school’ formula, the restoration of the Cly Castle seems to be a multi-level learning site: at the end of the 1980s, the ruins of the ancient fortification hosted an open-air experimental lab, a learning course consisting of theoretical, practical and programmatic activities based on the fundamental interaction among different actors – mainly protection bodies and construction companies –, able to train new experts, foster research, implement adequate conservation solutions and transfer practical and methodological skill acquisitions as the AVER project can demonstrate. This experience offers the opportunity to reflect today on achievements, mistakes and missed chances, to identify possible corrective collective responses, to propose new interactions and improve those already in place, to think about the relevance of education for cultural heritage preservation stressing the responsibility of those who face this challenge