La protezione del patrimonio storico artistico in Adriatico durante la Grande Guerra: dall’Antico Tesoro della Basilica di Loreto al museo di ambientazione

The paper examines heritage anti-aircraft protection during the Great War in Ancona and Loreto. The most novel elements relate to the defense of the basilica of Loreto. The recovered correspondence documents Corrado Ricci's concern for the vaults, particularly for the portion housing the cycles by Melozzo da Forlì and Luca Signorelli, for the historiated stained glass windows and the complex votive and decorative apparatuses inside. Organized by the Royal Commissioner of the Worship Fund Administration, the protection activities also involved the concealment of enameled or coral ecclesiastical jewelry and furnishings. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Holy House had been enriched by the first nucleus of paintings in the present Museum of the Ancient Treasure. The documentation found provides elements on the revision of painting schools innervated by the Regional Exhibitions of the early twentieth century and also attests to the critical fortune that followed the early Berenson. The article presents the criteria by which the museum was opened to the public after the cessation of the conflict, following the style setting criteria adopted by Luigi Serra.