The Sale Monumentali (Monumental Rooms) of the Marciana Library in Venice hosted, on November 28th, the presentation of the restoration plans for Orthopascha. The manuscript was written in the 1500s on parchment and is bound in leather. The same Marciana Library has been conserving it, as it contains the 1508 dissertation, in Latin, by Pellegrino Prisciani. Thanks to the support of UNIC – Italian Tanners, the restoration of will save the Orthopascha from the wear of weather and insects. Elisa Bastianello and Silvia Pugliese will be in charge of the project.
The current conditions
The writing is on parchment. The original leather covering the laminated carton is still there. Sadly, the conditions of the manuscript today are precarious: it has holes created by insects, while the sowing is loose and the cover has been eaten by worms. The Library has already set in motion the activity to restore it.
The conference
The meeting on November 28th was the right occasion to present the Orthopascha restoration project. Moreover, the conference titled “Astrology, from Pellegrino Prisciani to Aby Warburg”, organized by Università Ca’Foscari and IUAV also took place. The program included the projection of “Il Gesto Perduto – Frammenti per un film documentario su Aby Warburg”, a focumentary by Italo Spinelli. After the movie the panel discussed Warburg, the German art historian about whom Einaudi wrote the essay “Astrologica” (curated and translated by Maurizio Ghelardi). Warburg is considered the father of iconology.
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