MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROCESS AIMED AT THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DAMAGES IN STONY CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE BALUSTRADE OF VILLA CERAMI (CATANIA)

Abstract

This paper explains how an interdisciplinary study, examined and faced under different points of view

(geologists, architects and restorers), can be very useful in planning and performing the apt conservation

measures of a monument. As an example, the restoration case of Villa Cerami balustrade (Sicily, Catania) is

reported here. This approach, applied preliminarily to the restoration, allowed identifying the materials, the

type and the causes of degradation, as well as to plan and perform the necessary conservation measures. The

study was planned in three steps: i) anamnesis-prediagnosis (historical analysis; geometric survey; 3D sur

vey; analysis of degradation type; degradation maps; static verification); ii) diagnosis (investigation project

and diagnostic analysis); iii) therapy (material restoration; swott analysis, intervention mode and architec

tural project to fill up the missing parts). Static verification was performed in order to choose whether to

save or replace some of the most degraded balusters; during this step, the 3D survey allowed a more accu

rate assessment of the structural risk. The mineralogical composition and the petrographic features of the

constituent materials were determined by X-ray diffraction and optical microscopy, respectively. In order to

investigate possible changes in the stone material properties due to degradation, a physical characterization

using the distribution of pore access size and pore volume was performed with mercury intrusion porosime

ter (MIP). The material knowledge of its degradation state allowed to choose also the protective product by

means of a compatibility test (UNI 10921:2001).