Palazzo Tadini’s roof between efficiency and history

Directly overlooking Lake Iseo, the historic building housing the Tadini Academy Gallery and the Museo dell'Ottocento in Lovere (BG) was built in the early 19th century by Count Luigi Tadini, who entrusted the project to the Modenese architect Sebastiano Salimbeni. The architectural complex, built next to the old family residence, was desired by the count to display his art collections to the public, entrusting them to a foundation that included the still active music and drawing schools. Realised in just over six years, the Tadini Academy Gallery was inaugurated by Count Tadini in 1828 and was the first 19th century museum in Lombardy after the Brera Art Gallery. Today, the monumental complex – which continues and carries into the third millennium the museum, artistic and educational nature that inspired Count Tadini two centuries ago – stands as a precious testimony to neoclassical architecture and culture in Italy.

In January 2023, thanks to the precious contribution of the Fondazione Cariplo and the “SOS Patrimonio” (SOS Heritage), works on the restoration of the roof and north-west facade of Palazzo Tadini began, and were completed in the autumn of the same year. For the re-roofing work, the first step was to remove the entire roof covering and the elements underneath up to the main planking, recovering and stacking – and then proceeding to re-use – most of the tiles and under-roof tiles deemed suitable. The new roof package envisaged the laying of a new vapour barrier over the ashlar, on which Isotec ventilated thermal insulation panels by Brianza Plastica were installed.

The main goal of the intervention was to protect the museum's premises and collections and to guarantee the public's enjoyment of the heritage in the long term. The renovation of the roof and its insulation were the necessary preconditions for the renovation of the attic spaces, which will make it possible to increase the exhibition area and thus the cultural and exhibition offer of the museum.

The conformation of Brianza Plastica’s Isotec insulating panels, with a core of rigid polyurethane foam with high insulating performance, covered with waterproof aluminium foil and equipped with a slotted metal lintel, allows for the direct laying of the under tiles and roof tiles – both recovered and new antique ones – on the metal stiffeners with the relative stops. In order to meet the roofing transmittance value required by the directives of the regulations in force and also to access the tax benefits inherent in the 110% Superbonus, the designers envisaged the use of an insulation thickness of 120 mm. The Isotec thermal insulation system is particularly suitable for the renovation and re-efficiency of existing roofs. The panel is easy to apply, as it is lightweight, and allows a quick installation – from eaves to ridge – forming a load-bearing, insulating, waterproof and ventilated deck. It can be applied to different substrates, such as continuous wooden or concrete structures, and discontinuous steel or wooden walls, and can be clad with all types of roofing elements, whether continuous such as modern metal sheets and strips, or small brick elements such as traditional roof tiles or roofing tiles.