Visit by Ing. Arch. Gennaro Tampone
April 2004

From the 25th to the 28 April 2004, the Institute for Masonry and Construction Research hosted another Visiting Lecturer, Ing. Arch Gennaro Tampone.

Ing. Tampone graduated as Civil Engineer (University of  Bari, Italy, 1961) and as Architect (University of Florence, Italy, 1969). Currently President of the Collegio degli Ingegnieri della Toscana (a cultural non-profit association founded in 1876), he is also a member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, U.N.I. (the Italian standardisation body), NORMAL, ICOMOS, as well as the International Wood Committee of ICOMOS.

A long-standing expert in the conservation of wooden structures, Ing. Tampone organised the first two Italian National Scientific Conferences (Florence, 1983, 1989) on the Culture, Appraisal and Conservation of Ancient Timber Structures, as well as the International Italy - Japan Meeting on the Conservation of Ancient Timber Structures (Florence, 2000). The author of over 130 scientific publications, he has also written three books on the restoration of wooden structures : "Il Restauro del Legno" (the Restoration of Wood), "Il Restauro delle Strutture di Legno" (the Restoration of Wooden Structures), and "Strutture di Legno" (Wooden Structures).

During his visit to the University of Malta, Ing. Tampone gave a number of lectures to the postgraduate students of the Institute for Masonry and Construction Research on various topics concerned with wooden structures, including the Heritage of Wooden Historic Structures, the Degradation of Wooden Load Bearing Structures, as well as Criteria and Techniques of Repair of such structures.

Ing. Arch. Gennaro Tampone also gave a Public Lecture organised by the Institute for Masonry and Construction Research in collaboration with Heritage Malta, held at the headquarters of Heritage Malta in Valletta. The lecture, entitled Conservation of the Archaeological Monuments in Rome at the Beginning of the XIX Century gave a well illustrated insight on the ethics, philosophy and techniques of the restoration of Roman archaeological monuments during the 19th century.  A lively question and answer session ended the talk which was well attended by students, architects and archaeologists as well as the general public.
 
 

Ing. Tampone, before the start of his public lecture, being introduced by Dr. JoAnn Cassar of the Institute of Masonry and Construction Research, University of Malta.