The conservation of historic built heritage in Europe: Regulations and guidelines in Italy and England

The management and conservation of cultural heritage, including architecture and urban sites, is a necessity and a duty of the modern world. The identity of European society is strongly linked to the architectural heritage, it represents an irreplaceable resource for its inhabitants, in terms of psychological, economic and social wellbeing. During the 20th century several international charters and conventions were adopted, developing and evolving conservation principles and methods. Meanwhile the object of the protection has changed, moving from the archaeological and artistic heritage to the historic towns, which require an integrated conservation in the society, in order to reconcile the urban renewal actions with the protection of historical and architectural values of each site. This means making delicate choices and difficult operations, which change from country to country depending on the attitude adopted regarding to the conservation. This work compares the legislative and political aspects on the theme of the architectural heritage management and conservation in Italy and England, in order to identify advantages and disadvantages of each approach and the lessons that can be drawn. Italy and England were chosen as case studies because they implement a profoundly different relationship between protection and utilization. The literature search carried out includes scientific articles, reports, laws and governmental and non-governmental guidelines. This research concludes that the relationship between protection and utilization depends on many factors: recognized values in the object of protection, affordability, rules and practices, limitations to the changes in legislation matter. The analysis of current attitudes about heritage built allows to understand the limits and potential of different approaches and the Italy and England are different in ideological, economical and methodological aspects, and therefore in the practical one.