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San Gemini Book & Paper Conservation School

Training for Conservators and Restorers of Library and Archival Materials

September 15, 2025 - May 22, 2026

 This new school will offer an intensive training program in the field of restoration and preventive conservation of books and paper. Students will become proficient in the basic skills necessary to be a conservator/restorer of books and documents made with Western paper technology from the 16th Century to the present and with Italian restoration tradition and philosophy.

The program will be offered over the course of an entire academic year (nine months) and will be held in the town of San Gemini in Umbria, Italy. The 5 days per week intensive course-work will include theoretical instruction in the classroom and practical training in workshops. All instruction will be done in English, in-person, in San Gemini.

The curriculum is organized in seven modules with each module lasting four weeks. Between each module there is a week off, for rest or travel. At the end of the program, before we issue our certificate, each student is required to complete an assigned restoration project and participate in a three-month internship in Italy or another country.

This new program is part of the International Institute for Restoration and Preservation Studies of New York and is associated with their San Gemini Preservation Studies program in Italy, organizing educational programs in the field of conservation in San Gemini since 2009.

This program and courses have been created and operated in association with various local organizations among which. The Associazione Valorizzazione Patrimonio Storico San Gemini (Onlus), The Public Administration of the City of San Gemini and the Catholic Dioceses of Terni, Narni and Amelia.

What students can expect to learn in this course

  • The history of books, paper making, writing and printing

  • The structure and the materials used in books bookbinding techniques from the 16th century to the present and to identify them.

  • Identify different types of paper and their age.

  • Identify different types of inks and printing methods.

  • Cleaning methods: dry and wet

  • Restore books made with paper including the bindings, the sewing, the textblock, and the individual paper sheets.

  • Principles of preventive conservation of books and archival documents made of paper.

  • Restore archival documents made of paper.

  • Evaluation and documentation of the state of conservation of  books and archival documents.

  • Documentation of the restoration process.

  • Make conservation plans for libraries and archives.

  • Ethics and theory of Restoration.

  • Bind books, using the various handmade methods commonly used from the 16th century to the present.

 

PROGRAM

ACADEMIC PROGRAM

SAN GEMINI PRESERVATION STUDIES

SAN GEMINI HISTORIC ARCHIVES