From 28 October 2025 to 18 January 2026 the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome hosts Refunds 2025, the twentieth edition of Intesa Sanpaolo’s programme dedicated to safeguarding and enhancing Italy’s artistic heritage, carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.
This year, the project involves 60 restoration laboratories and dozens of scientific diagnostic experts. Among these, the Restoration Conservation Centre ‘La Venaria Reale’, which carried out the restoration of two works on display:
- The Throne of the Royal Palace of Naples – Find out more
- The tapestry Healing of the cripple the Pontifical Museum Santa Casa of Loreto
The tapestry Healing of the cripple
From the Series of Acts of the Apostles
Manufacture of Brussels, Atelier of Hans Mattens, circa 1620
Papal Museum of the Holy House of Loreto
The restoration of the tapestry, made on cardboard by Raffaello Sanzio, was an intervention of high technical and cognitive complexity. The work is distinguished by its material richness and by the exceptional variety of yarns used in weaving, including as many as seven types of metallic yarns – in silver and gilded silver – analysed in the Centre’s scientific laboratories using optical microscopy and scanning electronics.
The research allowed to deepen the knowledge of the original materials and to develop a conservative strategy aimed at stabilizing the weaving, in full respect of the formal and figurative values of the product.
The delicate cleaning operations made it possible to recover the brilliance of the colours and the sharpness of the composition, giving back to the tapestry its extraordinary decorative and luminous power.
CCR and accessibility
