6 January. It is with great grief that we learn of the passing of our dear colleague and friend, architect Simonetta Peroni-Peterson, who died after a severe illness on 30 December at the age of 61. Simonetta attended ICCROM’s International Architectural Conservation Course (ARC) in 1976. The following year, she was employed as assistant to the same course and became a consultant to the laboratory research team. Following a proposal of then Director, Sir Bernard Feilden, her first task consisted mainly in the development of a small testing laboratory for use by the participants of the ARC course. For this innovative work, she prepared an essential series of new exercises on the testing and conservation of building materials, working closely with Giorgio Torraca, John Ashurst, and other teachers.

During her time at ICCROM, she actively collaborated with other training centres in countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom, and France, attending conferences and guiding research teams. From 1978, she contributed to the development of the Research Training Units (RTU) at ICCROM, collaborating with the Italian National Research Council (CNR). These Units worked on the physical, chemical, and mechanical testing of lime-based mortars, as well as on experiments on the injection of cement grouts. The results of this research were published and tested on selected restoration sites in Italy, such as Pompeii, Venice, and Ferrara.

Simonetta resigned as Assistant to the ARC course and left ICCROM on 14 May 1982. She then married another ICCROM course participant (Scientific Principles of Conservation), Swedish conservator Sten Peterson. They moved to Sweden, where they lived in a traditional rural house near the city of Linköping, south of Stockholm. For many years, Simonetta and Sten worked together as conservation experts, particularly on the conservation of wooden polychrome sculptures in ancient churches. Simonetta also joined a Swedish architectural practice, offering her expertise to projects on the conservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings.

Jukka Jokilehto

updated on: 7 January, 2011