Masonries and stone materials of Romanesque architecture (Northern Italy)

Abstract

A complete record of Romanesque buildings (10th-13th centuries) was surveyed to detect the use of stone materials. The lithological variety of Northern Italian territory allowed the choice of several building stones: glacio-fluvial deposits (pebbles and cobbles, river Po high plain); igneous rocks of plutonic bodies and metamorphic rocks (Basement, Alps); sedimentary rocks of Mesozoic formations (Prealps); sedimentary rocks of tertiary formations (Monferrato; Apennine); clays of the alluvial sediments converted into bricks (river Po low plain). Generally, these materials bore different kinds of masonries: pebbles laid in horizontal courses with thick mortar joints; rough blocks of different shape laid in irregular courses; dressed stones laid in horizontal courses with thin mortar joints; bricks laid in regular courses. The reuse of stone materials of Roman buildings is another character of Romanesque masonries. This study involves, for each building, the identification of stones and the description of the masonry.