Almost half a century of training conservators and restorers in Florence, with an annual prize that has honoured, among others, a Venetian association’s twenty years of work on Italian cultural heritage online.
At a glance
Founded in Florence in 1976, the Istituto per l’Arte e il Restauro – known by the name of its historic seat, Palazzo Spinelli – is both a training school for conservation and restoration professionals and a working restoration practice, taking on commissioned interventions on cultural heritage. Its base is on Via Maggio, in the Oltrarno district, with restoration workshops elsewhere in the historic centre. Over its history it has run more than 4,800 courses, graduated over 7,500 students and carried out more than 18,000 restoration interventions.
Key facts
- Founded: 1976, Florence
- Seat: Via Maggio 13, Oltrarno, Florence
- Activity: training in conservation and restoration of cultural heritage; commissioned restoration work
- Scale: over 4,800 courses run, over 7,500 graduates, over 18,000 restoration interventions
- The Premio Palazzo Spinelli: an annual award, first held in the 2010s, honouring work in restoration and in the promotion of cultural heritage; past honorary president Franco Sottani (founder of the Institute, d. 20 March 2020)
A prize that looks beyond restoration itself
Alongside its core work training restorers, the Institute has for years run the Premio Palazzo Spinelli per l’Arte e il Restauro, a multi-category award recognising conservation work, education and, in a category for “Ricerca e sviluppo di nuove tecnologie applicate ai beni culturali,” projects that use technology to promote and safeguard heritage rather than restore it directly. It was in that category that the combined VI-VII edition ceremony of 23 October 2020 — held at Spazio MAD and dedicated to the memory of the Institute’s founder, Franco Sottani, who had died that March — recognised Beniculturalionline.it Associazione Onlus for two decades of work applying new technology to Italian cultural heritage.
Getting there
The Institute’s seat is on Via Maggio in Florence’s Oltrarno district, a short walk from the Ponte Vecchio.
Sources
- palazzospinelli.org and istitutoarterestauro.it — on the Institute’s founding, address and scale of activity.
- palazzospinelli.com/award/edizione-2020/ — on the 2020 Premio Palazzo Spinelli categories and winners.
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →Record researched and written by Carla Szathvary for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
Events here — now on & upcoming
- Beniculturalionline.it Wins the Palazzo Spinelli Award for Cultural Heritage Technology23 Oct 2026See the event →
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