"Per amare occorrer anzitutto conoscere". Percorsi conoscitivi e processi partecipativi per il patrimonio razionalista di Forlì

The durability of materials, the obsolescence of meanings and the changes over time represent three fundamental fields of reflection that have been developed inside a broader research work which has been carried out in the PhD in Architecture at the University of Bologna. Highlighted on the occasion of the first SIRA Conference – that has been dedicated to the Research on Restoration –, these themes offered the opportunity to reflect on the destiny of the 20th century architecture and, with it, of the rationalist heritage in Forlì. The aim of this paper is to focus on the operative implications of this research, highlighting both the contributions provided by the itineraries of knowledge that have been carried out and their interaction with fruitful participatory processes. On the one hand, the relationship between research activities and territorial needs has initiated cultured collaborations between university and public client; on the other hand, this project has gradually sensitised society on the value of the heritage in Forlì. The awareness of the importance inherent in the teamwork for transmitting to the future the rationalist heritage in Forlì makes it a city that gives evidence of the possibility of dialogue and consequent listening. Transforming in reality the objectives of conservation and reuse of unique and unrepeatable buildings requests a work that is able to involve several figures and competencies, with different interests and specificities, but with a single and desirable common purpose, the enhancement of the built heritage of the city. Because if it is true that at the basis of every path of safeguard there is a recognition of value, it is equally true that in order to love it is necessary to know and in order to design the future it is essential to interpret.