Roberta Fonti
Arch. Roberta Fonti, PhD
room 3.205
Tel.: +49.89.21124.561
Roberta Fonti graduated in 2009 with distinction in Architecture from the University of Reggio Calabria, curricula of Conservation-Restoration. In 2013, she earned a PhD with top mark in Construction Engineering especially for heritage buildings and monument care from the University of Naples Federico II. As an early career scientist, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) supported by the prestigious TUFF fellowship (2014). In 2016, she was appointed a research assistant and an independent researcher (2017) as well as a research associate (2021) to teach Architectural Conservation and Design at the Department of Architecture of the TUM. She conducted research in Reggio Calabria, Naples and Munich on Construction History, Structural restoration and Conservation-Restoration theory and its impact on Architectural Design. In Munich, she undertook relevant research on preservation theories especially for modern and ancient with a focus on baroque architecture and archaeological remains as well as the liturgical redevelopment of churches. In general, her interests in research are laying into the theory of architecture and preservation theories especially for heritage lacking integrity - thus, devising architectural languages able to deal with the old while exploring novel and more sustainable methodologies of design based on a deep understanding of traditional manufacturing techniques. She was awarded some prizes for her research, and she was honored with several fellowships and some grants. She was invited lecturer in many Universities including La Sapienza and RomaTre in Rome, Palermo, Laval in Québec amongst others. She wrote several essays and scientific publications, among them ‘Places, non-Places. The significance of recreating sites charged with iconic meaning’ (2023) and the book ‘Marcello Piacentini Restauratore. The structural honesty of forms, the use of passive skeletons and the aesthetic of the Simplified Neoclassicismus’ (2024). Further to her academic activities, since 2007, she was practicing in the professional field as a co-worker and partner (year, 2011) of the Design Studio Candela & Partners in Avellino (Italy). And since 2021, as an independent architect in Munich (Germany). As a young professional her work embraced the full range of activities associated with preservation of heritage monuments concentrating on UNESCO sites. Particularly. she was working on the reconstruction of the refectory of the monastery of the Trentatré of Naples, the restoration works of the monastery of San Domenico Maggiore and the church of San Giovanni Maggiore in Naples as well as the Rione Terra of Pozzuoli, the repairs of the Royal Palace of Naples and the ones of the high altar of the church of Saint Cajetan in Munich due to booming, the former monastery of the order of the Filippini in L’Aquila and the reconstruction of the church of Sant’Emidio in Amatrice due to earthquake as well as the restoration works of Casa dell’Ancora in Pompeii, the Monumental necropolis of Via Nucerina amongst many others. She is a member of the ARCo Association of Rome, ICOMOS Germany and the Bavarian Chamber of Architects, and Construction History Society of Cambridge.
Fonti R. (in print). Historic buildings & Musuem Exhibitions. Can a building conceived for a different use suit the needs of a museum exhibition? in the Journal Confronti, n. 20 Restoration of historic buildings and museum functions.
Fonti R. (2025). Il Restauro Acquerellato. Com’era e dov’era. Il caso della Gliptoteca di Monaco di Baviera in the Journal Restauro e Conservazione (rec) n.187 pp 54-65, ISSN 2283-7558.
Fonti R. (2025). Monaco di Baviera e le forme semplici in the Journal EIKONOCITY. History and Iconography of European Cities and Sites. https://doi.org/10.6093/2499-1422/12619
Fonti R. (2025). La revolución de las formas barrocas en las zonas sísmicas. Revista de la Costruccion, Istituto Juan de Herrera – Editorial de la Universität Politecnica de Valencia, Valencia. https://doi.org/10.4995/rdhc.2025.25105
Fonti R., Schwarz A. (in print). City gaps as fragments of an history lost in its eternal chain. Per una storia ‘emendata’. Due casi studio a confronto: Monaco di Baviera e Berlino in the proc. of the study day Il frammento e la lacuna: il progetto per il patrimonio costruito, 09 July 2024 in Rome.
Fonti, R. (2024) Marcello Piacentini Restauratore. The structural honesty of forms, the use of passive skeletons and the aesthetic of the Simplified Neoclassicisms. Publisher: Instituto Juan de Herrera. ISBN: 978-84-946000-6-7.
Fonti, R. (2024). Sites Which Are Not Places Anymore: The Case of Buildings Charged with Iconic Meaning and Destroyed by Natural Catastrophic Events. In S. Hönig & M. Špikić (Hrsg.), Erschütterung. Erde und Erbe in der Krise: Tremor. Earth and Heritage in Crisis (S. 72-79). arthistoricum.net. doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1472.c20949
Fonti, R. (2024). Heritage for a sustainable future – The theoretical principle of reversibility and its reflections on architecture. AGATHÓN | International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, 16, 144–155. https://doi.org/10.19229/24649309/16122024
Fonti R. (2023). Preventive Conservation in Times of War. The case of Triumphal Arches Proc. 10th CIRICE Conference 2023. Naples, 08-10 June, Italy. Vol. II Tracce e Patrimoni. Macrosessione: Restoration and War.
Fonti R. (2023). Places, non-Places. The significance of recreating sites charged with iconic meaning Proc. 10th CIRICE Conference 2023. Naples, 08-10 June, Italy. Vol. II Tracce e Patrimoni. Macrosessione: Restoration and War.
Fonti R. (in print). The philological approach as the rule-breaking exception, scritti in onore di Paolo Marconi, in occasione del decennale della sua morte (2023). Roma TrE-Press.
Fonti R. (in print). Ruins as fragments of a new history. The case of Ninfa in the proc. of the Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Reception of the Ancient World (AMPRAW) 2023, Cultures in fragments. Multifaceted approaches to the knowledge of Mediterranean antiquity through partial remains, 30 November- 02 December in Naples.
Fonti R. and Gardelli P. (2019). The mechanics of opus reticulatum. Reticulata structura, qua frequentissime Romae struunt, rimis opportuna est! Proc. 11th Congreso Nacional de Historia de la Construcción, Soria, del 9-12 October 2019, Spain.