Paper histories that defy the ages
Scripta manent, said the Latins. Scripta manent atque volant, we contemporaries add, and in this case the volant is not linked to the impermanence of words but rather to the flight of the documentary heritage at the disposal of Italy’s historic houses.
Archives and libraries of immense value, carefully guarded by families who retell through those pages the history of entire territories and communities–a history, moreover, different from the official version preserved in public archives– become places to visit, potential destinations for a cultured form of tourism characterised by the desire to deepen the sense of an experience accompanied by the unmistakable scent of ancient papers that pervades the rooms used for safekeeping.
These fragile documents have miraculously escaped the flames that have always represented the main threat to the integrity of the memory to be handed down to posterity–in dwellings where a burning fire was a constant presence for the purpose of lighting and heating. Today the same documents must face climate change, the consequences of which have hit Emilia Romagna in particular this year.
Defying the centuries, paper histories reveal to us who we are and where we come from. They illustrate the evolution of society, of territories, and of buildings either monumental or less grand: the very stratification that makes Italy a unique and irreproducible nation.
From the desire to share this heritage comes a special day, a special event, Carte in Dimora, Papers in the House, held now for the second time, organised by A.D.S.I. with the patronage of the MIC–Ministry of Culture. Private archives and libraries provide tangible evidence of the evolution of places and of the way historic dwellings are a fundamental and indispensable element of our country’s cultural heritage, thanks to their capillary and constant presence in every city, town and village in Italy.
Such resources not only keep history alive but also they can and must serve as linchpins for the sustainable development of the territories they represent.
For a future–as Giovanna Giubbini, Superintendent and supporter of this initiative, points out in this issue of our magazine–that must be further protected, using the potential offered by technology. Digital
copying is the life insurance of documents, but not only that. By facilitating access to documents, digitisation could also become the source of inspiration for new stories, written and “filmed” in the
form of video or augmented reality so as to reach new generations sensitive to the fascinating history of villas and palaces that are sure to become legendary, if only we find a way to communicate their stories by generating emotions. This is one of the tasks incumbent on the new generations of custodians of Historic Houses, to whom I suggest they read the article dedicated to a gentleman, a certain Joachim Carvallo, who more than a century ago decided to do what no one had dared to do before: open his house, make it a place to visit. Today, his house, the Château of Villandry, receives 360,000 visitors each year and is one of the most visited destinations in France. Enjoy the pages ahead.
