Despite the growing international interest in twentieth century architecture, modern heritage is still threatened by a general lack of value awareness that results in inappropriate renovations, extensive modifications, to the abandonment of buildings. The research on Italian school architecture from the second half of the twentieth century focuses on preservation and enhancement, highlighting significant examples of high-risk heritage due to the increasingly stringent requirements that have rendered many modern buildings outdated, even if they are still performing according to their original specifications. The evolution of the regulatory framework and the need to respond to increasingly rigorous energy performance standards to significantly reduce energy demand is gradually revealing conservation problems that scholars and professionals must address. The paper describes the first outcomes of the research ‘20th century school architecture: a living heritage’, dedicated to the identification and analysis of relevant modern school buildings not yet listed or protected by national regulation, to provide useful tools for their patrimonialisation. The analysis is focused on the context of the Veneto region, where the identification of 48 buildings conforming to criteria expressed by the National Survey of Architecture of the second half of the twentieth century proposed by the Italian Ministry of Culture, led to a deeper understanding of an overlooked heritage which could be included in the national register. The last phase of the research involves the experimentation on the case study of the junior high school ‘Valerio Catullo’ in Verona, designed by the architect Libero Cecchini in 1967. The conservation design aims to preserve the building through a ‘minimum intervention’ approach that ensures both the conservation and the functional and performance enhancement. The improvement of energy efficiency addresses the thermal performances of transparent and opaque enclosures, the replacement of the heating system, and the integration of a mitigated rooftop photovoltaic system for renewable energy. The research challenge lies in balancing the aim to preserve the values of modern buildings with the requirements of safety and comfort of living cultural places for the local community.