'«Even the ugly must be defended if it constitutes the inseparable attribute of a historical memory». These laconic words of Roberto Pane perfectly introduce the theme of conservation and the reasons that lead or should lead, to it. The vast theoretical activity by Pane, in fact, has covered various areas relevant to the culture of restoration, often broadening horizons and redefining the boundaries of a debate. His literary production is still at the center of numerous researches and studies due to what he elaborated on the conservation and protection of monuments as the historical memory of the past; on the post-war reconstruction as a safeguard from the spread of historical forgeries; on the encounter between ancient/new; on the extra-material value of cultural heritage, understood as a set of entities bearing a precise symbolic and psychological charge on the population.'