An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study and Re-Use of Private Historic Buildings. The Middle Ages Rethought

This paper proposes the thoughts of an historian who uses written sources to study me- dieval settlements in all their material aspects, especially in household buildings. Due to the nature of this research theme, it is necessary to confront what other disciplines – based on different sources – have produced about that. Archaeology, architecture, eth- nography and iconography give all different potentials of knowledge that is useful ana- lyze and compare in every single context. This comparison is always necessary because of the history through which the artefacts have reached us, recovered through critical and exegetical different paths. This way of study is strictly connected to the necessity of a good proposal of re-use and restoration of these survived artefacts, considered in their original historical and geographical contexts, and as the ‘Cultural Heritage’ that they represent.