Enhancement

Castles should be the object of suitable enhancement initiatives, for a number of reasons which can be summarized as follows:

• castles are important expressions of a culture and of a civilization and it is therefore fitting that, in a suitable and controlled way in order to ensure their conservation and use, they should in some way be made available to the community.
• castles are covered by a system for their safeguard, protection and conservation that has been set up in the light of the fact that it is in the public interest to pass them on to the future;
• castles require ongoing maintenance, which can in the majority of cases be ensured by intelligent forms of use and enhancement, capable of generating the income needed for this maintenance.

There are many forms of enhancement, some quite contradictory because they use the castle as a mere container for activities that have nothing to do with their historical significance or the architectural values they incorporate.

Enhancement initiatives that do not clash with the castle’s value as evidence of a historical and cultural past, but rather consider these values as reasons for enhancement and reinforcement, should therefore be preferred.

The following types of use and initiative should be avoided or discouraged:

• initiatives that exclude the possibility of even limited and careful visiting or public use;
• initiatives and activities entirely projected in the modern world and therefore unsuitable in relation to the cultural messages incorporated in the castle, which in this case would be used as a mere container, i.e. as a purely physical space;
• initiatives involving significant technological infrastructure work or conversion of space arrangements within the building.

Initiatives that in some way recall the ancient functions or reintroduce activities that were in any case present in the castle in its days of greatest splendour, should be preferred.

These activities include:

• organisation of conferences;
• wine production;
• catering;
• display of museum exhibits linked as closely as possible to the times of the castles;
• residence;
• accommodation.

The Consortium is available to provide assistance for activities that are most consistent with the historical and cultural characteristics of castles. The booklet “Valorizzazione e riuso dei castelli” (Enhancement and re-use of castles), which is part of the Documentation Series, may also be consulted.