Tobia Scarpa's plan for renovation of Palazzo della Ragione in Verona

Built on the site of the ancient Roman forum in Piazza Erbe between 1193 and 1196, in the days of Podestà Guglielmo da Osa, Palazzo della Ragione has been transformed repeatedly over the centuries.
The building is now multilayered, revealing the interweaving and overlapping, concealment and continuity of processes of transformation in a building centuries old.
The building is not only a chest full of artistic treasures but an important historical document, and these were the considerations inspiring the restoration project.
Respecting the building means not rejecting any of the changes made over time a priori, but assessing their place in the transformation process and their possible recomposition in the current restoration project. This is why architect Tobia Scarpa kept new intervention to a minimum, for instance in the vertical links, which are often in conflict with the goal of recovering the spatial integrity of the most important spaces in the building and identifying weak points where work was required not only to meet functional requirements but to restore order to a fragmented, inconsistent situation.
Making a distinction between new intervention and existing structures meant isolating each separate character, stating the identity of each, and resisting the temptation to either abuse the existing or blend into it.