Italy

Alessandra Vittorini, an esteemed Italian expert in monument restoration and urban planning, has dedicated her career to preserving cultural heritage. Architect graduate in Monument Restoration with a PhD in Territorial and Urban Planning from “La Sapienza” University in Rome, she has held a prominent position within Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism since 1990. Following the devastating 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Vittorini was appointed head of the Superintendency for the region in 2012, where she led an integrated approach to cultural heritage protection and recovery.
Her leadership in restoring the Basilica of Collemaggio stands out; the project not only revived a key historical site but also earned the prestigious European Heritage Award/ Europa Nostra Award in 2020 for its excellence. Throughout her career, Vittorini has overseen numerous landmark restoration projects and contributed to international discussions on cultural preservation. She is also active in academia, frequently lecturing and publishing on architectural restoration and landscape conservation. From 2020 to 2024 she directed the “Fondazione Scuola dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali”, an international institute founded by the Ministry of Culture for training, research and advanced studies, including in the international field, for the care and management of cultural heritage.

Lorenzo Venezia was born in Vibo Valentia, Italy on 17 August 1992. He studied law at the University of Milano Bicocca and wrote his final dissertation on the role of Interpol in the operations of cultural objects restitutions when illegally exported. He then completed a one-year master’s programme in “Cultural Property Protection in Crisis Response” at the University of Turin with a final project on the use of QR codes inside cultural institutions to raise awareness in the public about illicit art trafficking. Lorenzo is currently working on a research project at C-Ship of the ICHEC Brussels Management School which is focusing on the relationship between local communities, environmental issues and cultural centres in the Region of Brussels. In December 2024, he will start a PhD on corporate financial management and crisis prevention at Universitas Mercatorum with a focus on digital transition in European non-profit cultural organisations as a tool for crisis prevention and the case study of ENCATC.
He has been a member of ESACH since June 2023 and in May 2024 he started to collaborate as Editor.

Gaianè Casnati is a conservator architect, Director of the Cultural Heritage department of the Centro Studi e Documentazione della Cultura Armena (CSDCA) and Research Fellow in Architectural conservation at Politecnico di Milano. Casnati is the author of several preservation projects in Italy and abroad (i.e. the preservation of the Roman amphitheatre of Milan, the safeguarding of the entrance tower of Shayzar castle in Syria, the structural repair of the katoghiké church of Marmashen in Armenia) and is editor/author of a number of publications on Armenian heritage conservation (several articles and 3 books). She has organised three exhibits on Armenian themes (that travelled in Armenia and in Europe) and has spoken at international congresses (in Italy, Armenia, France, Belgium, Austria, etc.). She has been working for CSDCA and Politecnico di Milano on projects in Armenia for organisations such as UNESCO, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Europa Nostra and the World Bank.
She has been a project manager for the project Restoration Training in Armenia, awarded by Europa Nostra in 2015 in the category Education, Training and Awareness Raising. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the 7 Most Endangered programme of Europa Nostra.