Bofrost: cold rooms opened to save flood-damaged works of art

Bofrost refrigerated trucks and cold rooms are already available and ready to receive and safeguard ancient texts, manuscripts, sixteenth-century books and volumes on paper and parchment held in the diocesan library of Forlì which, after the flooding, are soaked with water and mud and therefore at extremely high risk of deterioration, because fungi develop within 48 hours and permanently damage the artefacts.

In such cases, the only way to save the works of art is to place them in special bags and bring them to a very low temperature as quickly as possible, thereby halting fungal growth and making it possible to carry out the delicate and specialised restoration treatments at a later stage.

“We immediately responded positively to the request from the Bishop of Forlì, Monsignor Livio Corazza, who is originally from Pordenone and knows that in such cases we always make our equipment available. It is state-of-the-art in the field of freezing and maintaining the cold chain, including during transport,” explains Gianluca Tesolin, CEO of Bofrost Italia. He adds: “For several days now, we have also been in contact with and available to the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency of Emilia-Romagna and the crisis unit of the regional coordination office of the Ministry of Culture of Emilia-Romagna, to help save works of art at other historic sites, such as the municipal archive of Sant'Agata sul Santerno, in the province of Ravenna.”

In addition to the head office and various local branches, Bofrost Italia’s Forlì branch is also contributing to the recovery and conservation effort.

“In addition to the company’s direct intervention, we immediately approved the possibility for each of our employees to donate holiday hours to colleagues who have been affected by the floods,” explains Gianluca Tesolin. “Moreover, as we often do in similar situations, we have launched a fundraising campaign among all the Italian families who are our customers. Since I am convinced that in cases like these even the simple change from a shop can help make a difference, we are also collecting donations of just 50 cents, which will then be donated to Caritas to support relief efforts in the Romagna area.”

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.