A rural area in Lombardy (Northern Italy), belonging to the Padania floodplain between Piadena and Calvatone (Cremona province), was investigated about different adobe buildings (farmsteads or store-houses) dating back to the second half of 19th century. The walls were made of adobe with mortar bedding, burnt brick foundation and tiled roof. The surfaces were coated with plaster, today almost completely crumbled off. The adobes were moulded on a prismatic shape; the average size is: 28 cm long, 13.5 wide, 6 thick. The mineralogical composition, detected by X-ray diffraction, includes clay minerals (illite and chlorite), quartz, silicates and calcite. Microscopic examination on thin section identifies a mud with a detrital fraction mainly composed by quartz crystals (size 40-80 ?m), with angular shape and conchoidal fractures. The lack of straw among the adobe components is remarked. The bedding mortar, with irregular joints (1.0-1.5 cm thick), is made of mud with sand; the mineralogical composition includes: illite, chlorite, quartz (size 100-200 ?m), calcite and silicates. The raw material belongs to the glaciofluvial deposits (Wurm) forming the terraces of the floodplain where sandy, silty and clayey sediments are interbedded. Samples of local sediments were analysed, showing the same composition and grain-size of the material used for the adobe. Crumbling and spalling are clearly visible on the adobes; the decay increases through the lack of maintenance: the repairs are made using bricks together with Portland cement mortar. The literary sources, from 15th to mid 19th century, generally report the words of Vitruvius' De architectura on adobe walls, without comparison with the contemporary local techniques. But Scamozzi's L'idea dell'architettura (Venice 1615) testifies the use of the adobe in the Padania plain (near Cremona and Mantova) and Capra's La nuova architettura civile (Cremona 1717) reports the adobe size matching the adobe investigated.
L'Architettura in terra nella pianura Padana (Italia Settentrionale): gli edifici in mattoni crudi nella provincia di Cremona.
Bugini R;Biondelli D;
2009
Abstract
A rural area in Lombardy (Northern Italy), belonging to the Padania floodplain between Piadena and Calvatone (Cremona province), was investigated about different adobe buildings (farmsteads or store-houses) dating back to the second half of 19th century. The walls were made of adobe with mortar bedding, burnt brick foundation and tiled roof. The surfaces were coated with plaster, today almost completely crumbled off. The adobes were moulded on a prismatic shape; the average size is: 28 cm long, 13.5 wide, 6 thick. The mineralogical composition, detected by X-ray diffraction, includes clay minerals (illite and chlorite), quartz, silicates and calcite. Microscopic examination on thin section identifies a mud with a detrital fraction mainly composed by quartz crystals (size 40-80 ?m), with angular shape and conchoidal fractures. The lack of straw among the adobe components is remarked. The bedding mortar, with irregular joints (1.0-1.5 cm thick), is made of mud with sand; the mineralogical composition includes: illite, chlorite, quartz (size 100-200 ?m), calcite and silicates. The raw material belongs to the glaciofluvial deposits (Wurm) forming the terraces of the floodplain where sandy, silty and clayey sediments are interbedded. Samples of local sediments were analysed, showing the same composition and grain-size of the material used for the adobe. Crumbling and spalling are clearly visible on the adobes; the decay increases through the lack of maintenance: the repairs are made using bricks together with Portland cement mortar. The literary sources, from 15th to mid 19th century, generally report the words of Vitruvius' De architectura on adobe walls, without comparison with the contemporary local techniques. But Scamozzi's L'idea dell'architettura (Venice 1615) testifies the use of the adobe in the Padania plain (near Cremona and Mantova) and Capra's La nuova architettura civile (Cremona 1717) reports the adobe size matching the adobe investigated.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
