Elogio del lapidario: Aldini e Giovio tra memorie e marmi

In Italian lapidario is a polysemous word to its full potential, as it denotes on the one hand the craftsman who works and manipulates stones and epigraphs (lapidaries), and on the other hand two different ways of cataloging and transmitting stone artifacts, namely the didactic-scientific treatise devoted to mineralogy and the place designated for the display and preservation of ancient epigraphs, gravestones et similia (lapidarium). Therefore, the word declines different aspects of the long-term life of marbles and inscriptions, from production to preservation. Nonetheless it eluded reflection on its uses precisely because of the frequency and various context both in common speech and academic discourse. Obviously, on the side of the conservation of stone artifacts and antiquarian collecting, which is the historical phenomenon at the origin of museum collections, more attention is focused because of the dynamics and issues it poses to scholars and practitioners in the field: archaeologists, restorers, and museologists. In particular, one testimony proves to be important for the fate of the museological discipline as well as for the Lombard territories, namely Pier Vittorio Aldini's dissertation on antiquarian museums (1824), which comes at the end of a long season of study and collecting from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and confronts current issues (then and now) such as university teaching and field research, as experimented in the cases of Pavia itself and Como (1831, 1834), where epigraphy joined attention in material and provenance. Starting from these reflections, the contribution aims to offer a frame reflection and, in a historical perspective, enucleate relevant examples to understand or discuss lines of research on the agenda of cataloguing projects or enhancement projects.