THE TWO PORTALS IN THE DOGE’S PALACE GLEAM AGAIN
Good news for the St Mark’s area and St Mark’s Square: the two Scala d’Oro portals (photo) in the Doge’s Palace have been returned to their ancient splendour. The restoration cost 38,500 euros plus VAT and the funds were strangely collected by means of ‘bags of salad’. Indeed, it was thanks to the idea of the entrepreneur Paolo Tamai, owner of the company ‘Gli orti di Venezia’, that the money for the restorations came from the production of salad bagged and sold in supermarkets. The project also had the support of Eataly at first and later of Conad, Sma and Tosano. In presenting the restoration yesterday the Fondazione Musei Civici’s architect Arianna Abbate pointed out that the work, as reported in the local press, concerned ‘the cleaning of centuries-old deposits from the articulate surface distinguished by high reliefs. It was carried out with chemical systems and unsuitable gluings were also overhauled, protected with special waxes’. The portals now gleam again, further enhancing the beauty of the Scala d’Oro.