La perdita dell'affresco di G.B. Carlone sulla facciata dell'Albergo dei Poveri di Genova

The construction of the Albergo dei Poveri started about the middle of the 17th century: the Genoese ruling class aimed to bring together all the city's charitable hostels in a single building. The architectural complex stands out from the roofs of the other palaces due to its position on the fore hills and its monumental nature, showing all the observers the magnificence of the Genoese Republic. The main façade of the Albergo dei Poveri was enriched by a vast Carlone's fresco in its upper part, which nowadays is no longer legible. In the 30s of the XXth century both the façade and the painting were restored, evidence of which a conspicuous number of letters and reports between the Ligurian Office for Medieval and Modern Art and the administration of the institute. Unfortunately the Second World War bombs cancelled the achievements of this intervention. Through the study of documents stored in the archives of the two institutes it was possible to reconstruct the events that involved the fresco during the XXth century and to think about the contemporary conservation techniques.