Protection, Promotion and Restoration of Heritage Vessels: guidelines for the nautical restoration process

From the growing interest in the historical nautical sector, that in Italy started in the 80s, new needs of cultural nature emerge. The doctoral dissertation is therefore focused on the practice of conservation and recovery of ancient vessels, beeing a first attempt to establish a guide for the process of boats restoration. During the first part of the research, through the use of the design tool of Design Thinking, a gap in the sector of vessels restoration has been identified: a guide for recovering heritage vessels. Sure enough, Italian ancient boats are nowadays restored by experts and professionals who work supported only by their own competence. There are neither rules nor appropriate guidelines. Therefore, at the end of the research, thanks to surveys on the territory (Italy and abroad); meetings with professionals, ship owners and associations; interviews; dialogues; analysis of bibliographic sources; participation in conferences, events and gatherings; passive and active observation; planning; design and graphic visualization, guidelines for the nautical restoration process have been created.