The latest restoration work in Pompeii is by Sardinia. The brothers Massimiliano and Marcello Desogus brought the name of the island to the fore who - together with their team of architects, art historians, bricklayers, planers and labourers - brought to light the frescoes of the women's baths in the marvelous Roman city which resurfaced after centuries from the ashes of Vesuvius. «Seeing those colors from two thousand years ago come to life before our eyes was a huge emotion, a magical moment», they say, almost moved. True Cagliaritans, owners of one of the most important restoration companies on the island, worked on the Pompeian paintings for eight long months, using cutting-edge techniques and equipment. And also overcoming the difficulties encountered by any Sardinian company that works beyond the Tyrrhenian Sea: higher costs and distance from home.
How it all began - A prestigious assignment, the culmination of a professional journey of absolute excellence that began in the ruined post-war Cagliari. «My father Vittorio – says Massimiliano – started in the “Spano fu Giovanni” company specialized in stone working and was entrusted with the reconstruction of the basilica of Bonaria and the church of Sant'Anna damaged by the bombings. Then in 1969 he founded a sole proprietorship and started his own business." First work in the church of Santa Rosalia in Cagliari. «He created the new table of the four angels». Massimiliano and Marcello were children at the time. «I remember when he was restoring the altar of San Francesco Saverio in the Jesuit church of San Michele – says Massimiliano -, I watched those marbles being handled with care and I was enchanted, it was my playground, I grew up breathing the passion for the art of restoration".
The climb - In 1989 Massimiliano entered into a partnership with his father. The following year Marcello is also there. “fratelli Desogus restaurari” was born, which later became a srl. The company grows and specializes in the recovery of walls and marble altars: it intervenes in the most beautiful churches in Sardinia, from Sant'Elulalia to the Cathedral in Cagliari, from the chapel of the Bonaria cemetery, also in the capital, to the church of San Nicola in Ottana . The curriculum also includes the emergency restoration of the towers of Palazzo Bacaredda, seat of the Municipality of Cagliari, and the first order beyond the Tyrrhenian Sea: the recovery of the façade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Last year the big coup: the contract for the Pompeii baths, completed last March 8th. «A demanding job: since the 19th century the women's baths were used as a warehouse. We had to move 200 amphorae, hundreds of finds and many bones, for three months we did just that." Then the actual recovery: «To clean the frescoes from the patina that covered them we used micro cutters, while the last thickness was eliminated with the laser».
The insularity gap - Participating in the race, however, was a risky choice. «Sardinian companies unfortunately pay for the insularity gap – they explain -. A Roman company takes an Intercity and arrives in Naples in an hour. We had to move there for months and it becomes difficult to apply the same discount percentage. The Region doesn't help us, there is no territorial continuity for companies. Why did we do it? To demonstrate, first to ourselves, that a Sardinian company can compete and excel at the highest levels. We are proud to have succeeded. And I believe that from up there so is our father Vittorio, who passed away 8 years ago and was on the construction site with us until his last day."
Massimo Ledda
