Renata Codello's book chronicles the restoration of Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia

Renata Codello has edited a new book, 'Venezia. La Grande Accademia. Architettura e restauro', published by Electa in 2017, detailing the radical restoration of Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia. The museum complex, originating in the 12th century as the church of Santa Maria della Carità, monastery, and Scuola Grande, was secularized in 1807 and became the Accademia di Belle Arti. It houses the world's most important collection of Venetian art. The restoration project, designed and directed by Codello with architect Tobia Scarpa, was completed in late 2013 and won the Premio Torta for restoration, with a jury chaired by Donatella Calabi praising it as a 'sapient architectural project' with great cultural interest for the city. The book includes contributions by Paola Modesti on the complex's palimpsest history and Francesco Dal Co on Carlo Scarpa's earlier interventions (commissioned by director Vittorio Moschini over 15 years), which Dal Co calls a 'lesson in museography'. Codello describes the project's evolution from surveys in the early 1990s, including archaeological tests in the Palladian courtyard, to doubling exhibition spaces. She addresses the museum's contemporary role as a dynamic system of activities driven by visitor numbers and information flows.