“You think: How are we going to preserve the piece? This is consolidation,” he says. “Consolidation is that you impregnate the stone with a chemical compound that will penetrate deeply into the stone, which causes a catalystic reaction.”
After the compound is applied, Fiorentini washes the piece with a low pressure power washer, waits 15 to 30 minutes and repeats the process about three times. Then he tests the grave to make sure that the stone can “breathe,” which means that it will be able to release the pollutants that may seep into it due to acid rain and smog.
If it passes the test, he stops. If not, he continues to “consolidate” the piece until the desired affect is achieved.
“You stop when the stone tells you to stop,” he says.
Fiorentini describes consolidation as an essential step in restoration.
“With the consolidation, there is less need for further maintenance and so upkeep will cost less money,” Fiorentini explains.
Despite the regimented process, Fiorentini is careful to emphasize that restoration for each piece is different.
“You have to find the right recipe,” he says. “It’s like a doctor, like a physician, if he’s a good doctor he won’t do the same thing for every patient.”
Indeed, Fiorentini describes himself as having a very personal relationship with his work.
“I don’t mean to say that I am crazy, but when you touch something you and it are bonded,” he says. “When I work it’s like the piece becomes part of myself. It becomes like a friend.”
ART AND CONSERVATION
Tall, skinny, and bespectacled Fiorentini emphasizes that while his approach to restoration is methodical, he also draws on his background as an artist to take into account “the aesthetic value” of the piece.
“I always approach my work in the artistic way,” Fiorentini says. “I always keep my own vision. The object is not just an artifact. It has a value; it has a shape.”
Fiorentini is a classically trained artist, a painter, and comes from an artistic family. His father was also an artist and his brother, Paolo Fiorentino, is an accomplished Italian painter.
Fiorentini took a slightly different path, however, when he started interning at a conservation laboratory for archaeology research in Rome, working on the Palatine Hill in 1983. From then on he worked on many conservation and restoration projects around Rome.
He did not come to America until 1991, when he crossed the ocean for love. He met his wife in Rome when she was on vacation there in the late 1980s. After having spent a year in Rome, she then had to return to her work in Massachussetts. Ultimately, Fiorentini decided to move to America so that he could live with her in the States. They now have two children: Alexander, who is 14, and Arianna, who is 10.
Fiorentini believes in truly expressing himself in both his life and his work.
“When I work I sing,” he says. “Maybe it’s strange, maybe it’s Italian.”
He later adds, “The singing is like a release. Your soul releases and you don’t have to worry about anything else. When I sing I’m fully here. Its the best experience for work.”
—Staff writer Sofia E. Groopman can be reached at segroopm@fas.harvard.edu.