Elena Pecchioni

• Doctor Geologist
• Manager at University of Florence

This study focuses on the Memorial Chapel, a historical site located inside the Tempio Evangelico Valdese in Florence. In 1843, the first Anglican church in Florence, known as Holy Trinity Church, was built by D. Giraldi. Around 1892, G. F. Bodley began the reconstruction of a new building of neo-Gothic style at the same site, which was completed i...

We present some results, obtained using a multi-scale approach, based on the employment of different and complementary techniques, i.e., Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and µ-Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy equipp...

The research of structural masonry associated with geo-hydrological hazards in Cultural Heritage is a multidisciplinary issue, requiring consideration of several aspects including the characterization of used materials. On 25 May 2016, loss of water from the subterranean pipes and of the aqueduct caused an Arno riverbank failure damaging a 100 m lo...

The monitoring of stone alteration represents a key factor in the knowledge and prediction of the status of conservation of building stones in the urban framework. A continuous monitoring requires a non-destructive analytical approach and, possibly, a simple, low-cost and effective tool to study the decay processes. Previous studies demonstrated th...

Bathed in the charm of centuries of history and architectural beauty, the city of Florence is a kind of open-air museum which represents the historical memory of the city, from the Middle Age to modernity. The countless masterpieces are mainly made of the rocks outcropping close to the city and surrounding areas. Thus, Florence is characterized by...

The Great Synagogue of Florence is one of the most important and beautiful European synagogues. Its design includes many Moorish-style motifs, typical of Spanish architecture; the pavement is characterized by a geometric four-color decoration obtained by the use of red limestone, and grey, yellow and white marbles. The temple was damaged several ti...

Diagnostic investigations are fundamental procedures for the conservation and safeguarding of buildings belonging to the historical-artistic Heritage. In last five years, some corbels placed below balconies and eaves fell in Florentine area. Among the many episodes that have occurred it is important remember the visitor died in Santa Croce Basilica...

In Tuscany, the vernacular architecture of the countryside between Siena and Florence (Chianti territory), and the monumental architecture of towns such as Prato and Pistoia together with the surrounding villages, extensively used a local limestone, the Pietra Alberese. It is a grey marly limestone, very resistant to decay, which takes on a whitish...

The Tomba dei Demoni Alati is located in the Etruscan necropolis of Sovana (Grosseto, Southern Tuscany, Italy). At the end of the 1990s, excavation revealed remains of this aedicule tomb, carved into red tuff; in 2004, further excavation highlighted new important figurative elements. The Etruscans used different methods to decorate the rock surface...

The presented study illustrates the characterisation of several artificial materials (bedding, joint mortars, and plasters) belonging to the masonries of the UNESCO site of Panamá Viejo, located in Panama City (Panama). This monumental site represents the first Spanish settlement on the Pacific Coast, founded 500 years ago, in 1519. Through mineral...

Serpentinite is a low-grade metamorphic rock derived from the transformation of ultramafic rocks. Mainly because of its aesthetic characteristics it has been widely used as a building and ornamental stone. “Verde di Prato” is the most common local name used in Tuscany to refer to this type of rock, historically quarried in this area and used for ma...

In this paper, the advances in the use of optical and electronic microscope for study of the minero-petrographic and microchemical features of lime binders of ancient mortars are discussed for various case studies. Mortars belonging to several historic periods and with different functions in building structures and archaeological sites were selecte...

In urban environments, degradation processes affecting both natural and artificial carbonate materials commonly result in the formation of sulphate-based deposits (i.e., black crusts). Hyperspectral techniques may provide ready-to-use information on the degree of sulphation of carbonate stone, hence helping to monitor the conservation state of carb...

The conservation of monuments in Cairo represents a complex matter, influenced by the cultural context, the intrinsic features of a vast and heterogeneous architectural heritage, and the environmental conditions. Monument vulnerability levels strongly need to be systematized to delineate adequate programs of control, management, and intervention. D...

The Pietra Alberese is a marly limestone belonging to the Ligurian series (Monte Morello Formation of Eocene age). It is a material rarely mentioned in the historical Florentine architecture because the Pietraforte, the stone of the Medieval Florence and the Pietra Serena, the stone of the Renaissance, were the main lithotypes commonly used in thos...

Stone-built cultural heritage exposed to urban environment represents a habitat where heterogeneous microbial communities can grow causing structural and aesthetical modifications and significant biodeterioration phenomena, the most common being colored patinas and crusts. An in-depth investigation of microbial community composition and its metabol...

The conservation of historical buildings in Cairo represents a complex matter, influenced by several key factors such as the cultural context, the intrinsic features of a vast and heterogeneous architectural heritage and the environmental conditions. An Italian-Egyptian research group is working on the peculiarities of the monument conservation in...

This paper focuses on the characterization approach to evaluate the decay state of Pietra Serena of historic buildings in Florence (Italy). Pietra Serena is a Florentine sandstone largely used in the city especially during the Renaissance; it is a symbol of cultural heritage of Florence and constitutes a large part of the city center, which was nam...

The coastal sight towers and the defensive fortresses were in the past distinctive elements of the coastal landscape. They were distributed in particular along the northern coast of the Mediterranean and were built for sighting purposes from the XVIth century against the raids of barbarian pirates who had their bases in the Maghreb coast. A mineral...

The study aims to document the state of conservation and to interpret the alteration processes of the facing wall on the Calcinaio church. The masonry built by ashlar is affected by severe decay phenomena, which in a few years could lead to the almost complete cancellation of the finishing traces in the surface of the ashlars and the significant lo...

A geochemical study was carried out on gas, water and mud samples from four mud volcanoes in Gorgan Plain, SE Caspian Sea (Iran) in order to investigate fluid primary sources and secondary processes controlling fluid chemistry. The chemical composition of light alkanes and the isotopic feature of methane indicated an origin related to a thermogenic...

The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Firenze is externally decorated with white marble, green serpentinite and red limestones. These latter are constituted by marly and ammonitic limestones, coming from different quarries. These can be discriminated to the naked eye, but it is not possible to assign the different limestones to the quarries of...

Onshore and offshore mud volcanism in the Makran accretionary prism is related to convergence of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. This study describes the chemical and isotopic composition of hydrocarbon-rich fluids from four active on-shore mud volcanoes located along the Makran coast (southern Iran), namely Borborok, Ain, Napag and Sand Mirsuban...

Machaerus Fortress, overlooking on a hilltop the Transjordan side of the Dead Sea, represents an important example of the Herodian defence structures. It was a model of engineering, considering both its military function and the offered quality-of-life. In fact, this site hosted hydraulic constructions with an estimated capacity of the reservoirs o...

Petro-mineralogical, micro-chemical and isotopic (δ³⁴S-CaSO4 and ¹⁴C dating) analyses were carried out in selected samples from the rock paintings of Nyero (Upper Lake Victoria Region, Uganda) aiming to characterize for the first time both the composition of the red and white pigments of the drawings (mainly representing concentric circles, and sha...

The San Giovanni Baptistery in Florence (Italy) is an outstanding worldwide monument, representative of Romanesque architecture, dating back at least to the XII century. The whole edifice is externally revetted by white marble of different provenance and, subordinately, of serpentinite, commercially known as "green marble". This latter is a rock fo...

An experimental approach in order to investigate the possibility that some Italian limestones were used for the production of Roman Cement is proposed. Three types of Pietra Alberese, a marly limestone used since Roman times for the production of “lime” in Tuscany (Italy), were selected. By burning of these stones, specimens of binders were realize...

Stone-built Cultural Heritage is subjected to decay in urban environment over the centuries, due to surface interaction and reaction with natural atmospheric agents and, particularly in the last centuries, air pollutants. The Short wave Infrared (SWIR) characterisation of stone surface through portable instruments is attracting increasing interest...

This paper shows the results of a multidisciplinary study carried out on the mortars from the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio (fourth-sixth ad), an aristocratic mansion built in the lower Valdarno (Florence, Italy). Thirty-one bedding mortar and plaster samples were analysed through optical microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffra...

In the present work, two kinds of hybrid polymeric–inorganic coatings containing TiO2 or SiO2 particles and prepared starting from two commercial resins (Alpha®SI30 and Bluesil®BP9710) were developed and applied to two kinds of mortars (an air-hardening calcic lime mortar [ALM] and a natural hydraulic lime mortar [HLM]) to achieve better performanc...

Dolia are large pottery containers used in Roman times for the storage and fermentation of wine. They were produced in specialized pottery workshops (figlinae) and were typically marked with specific epigraphical stamps, which represent a major tool to unravel their provenance and trade. In this work we present the preliminary results of a study of...

The paper presents the results of a multianalytical study carried out through laboratory investigations on building materials of “Punta Troia Castle” in Marettimo Island (Sicily). The main aims of the work were to characterize the petrographic nature and to determine the geological provenance of the stone materials used to build the castle as well...

The aim of this paper is to identify the mechanisms responsible for the chromatic alteration of Pietra Serena sandstone, the stone used in Florentine Renaissance architecture. This stone has a bluish-grey colour when fresh, but is often oxidized acquiring an ochre-brown or reddish colour on buildings. A mineralogical, chemical, petrographic and phy...

The Grange of Cuna was the administrative and storage centre of the bigger farm of Santa Maria della Scala Hospital in Siena. Built from the early 14th century, the Grange is characterized by continuous development of the building until the second half of the 18th century. For his extraordinary state of preservation, its size and the internal organ...

Dolia are large pottery containers used in Roman times for the storage and fermentation of wine. Together with bricks and other building materials they constituted the so-called opus doliare and were probably produced in the same specialized ceramic workshops (figlinae). Opus doliare was typically marked with specific epigraphical stamps, which rep...

The territory of Southern Tuscany, on the Lazio border, is characterized by the presence of extensive pyroclastic deposits emplaced by the Latera Volcano (part of the Monti Vulsini volcanic district). The area displays a peculiar tabular morphology, which was incised by deep gorges; these latter are characterized by a particular microclimate able t...

Aim of the present work is the characterization of mortars coming from religious, monumental and civil buildings significantly damaged by the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila (Italy). The mortar characterization is performed in order to understand their characteristics (quality) in terms of raw materials, production and mix proportion. Moreover, in orde...

A multidisciplinary investigation of some open-air manufactured rocky blocks (both of Proto-historic and Medieval Age) found in the archaeological site of Pietralba (Arezzo, Italy) was performed. The Pietralba blocks display different typologies: a rectangular tub, an L-shaped tub, a throne, and a pyramid. Their study has been approached from the g...

In order to avoid both natural and artificial stone decay, mainly due to the interaction with atmospheric pollutants (both gases such as NOx and SO2 and particulate matter), polymeric materials have been widely studied as protective coatings enable to limit the penetration of fluids into the bulk material. In the current work, an air hardening calc...

The Vie Cave are a suggestive network of roads deeply entrenched in the rock, dating back to the Etruscan civilization; these ancient roads connect various settlements and necropolises existing mainly in the area of Sovana, Sorano and Pitigliano towns (Southern Tuscany, Italy). The Vie Cave are located in a peculiar geomorphological site, character...

Portoro is one of the most famous Italian black limestones due to its characteristic golden-yellow veins on a black background. It was used since Roman times, mainly in the city of Luni. Since the Middle Ages, its use is widespread in Genoa, and from the XVII century, it became one of the most common stones in religious buildings throughout Italy....

The most frequently used material in Florentine Renaissance architecture was Pietra Serena, a sandstone that nowadays is found in a quite satisfactory state of conservation. The reason for this is that architects and stone cutters in the past made careful selections of the materials they employed. This conscientious picking out was very important b...

It has been noted since the mid 1800s that the Michelangelo's David, the standing marble male nude representing a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, is affected by small cracks on both legs that threaten its stability. Understanding the characteristics and the conditions under which these lesions developed is thus critical for the preservation...

Proceedings of SGI-SIMP Congress, 2014 September 10-12, Milan (Italy)

The Roman catacombs of St. Tecla, Domitilla and St. Mark, Marcellian and Damasus located south of the centre of Rome were extensively investigated in this research, to study the technology of lime-based mortars and techniques of mural painting used by the ancient fossori to execute the decorated surfaces. The integrated minero-petrographic and micr...

In the sixth century B.C. Petra was conquered by the Nabataeans, who built an elaborated water system and turned a desert city into an artificial oasis and a prosperous centre controlling the main commercial routes of the region (100 B.C. - 100 A.D.). In 2007, it was added to UNESCO's prestigious list of World Heritage Sites, as one of the seven wo...

The “marble” Portasanta from Caldana (Grosseto, Italy) takes its name from the strict resemblance to the ancient Marmor Chium (also this called Portasanta) coming from the island of Chios in Greece. In this work, a complete characterization of the Italian Portasanta was made: chemical (X-ray fluorescence and isotopic analyses), mineralogical (X-ray...

A portable radiometer (ASD-FieldSpec FP Pro spectroradiometer), which continuously and rapidly acquires punctual reflectance spectra in the 350-2500 nm spectral range, has been recently proposed as non-destructive and non-invasive technology for detecting gypsum and other materials (inorganic as well as organic) on surfaces of historical buildings...

The paper aims to provide insights into the lime-based mortars of the mural paintings in Roman catacombs and their alteration due to calcium carbonate crystallizations. Critical discussion is undertaken on the results from the recently initiated project HYPOGEA in the Catacombs of Saints Mark, Marcellian and Damasus, and based on a review of the di...

Conservation of outdoor stone heritage built on unstable rock masses can benefit from a holistic approach which leads to an analysis of instability mechanisms of the geologic substratum, deterioration processes of the architectural surfaces and their mutual relationships over time. An analytical procedure combining on site and laboratory diagnostic...

A holistic methodology combining conventional diagnostic investigations and kinematic analysis performed on 3D laser scanning survey is here proposed for rockfall hazard assessment and erosion patterns study, to map critical sectors and evaluate potential impacts on the conservation of cultural heritage sites built on unstable rock masses. Experime...

Pietra Serena is one of the materials more used in Florentine architecture. It is a sandstone that outcrops in the hills north of the city in the municipality of Fiesole and it has been employed mainly for ornamental purposes. This litotype belongs to the the Macigno Formation (Oligocene Upper- Miocene Lower) which consists of beds of turbiditic sa...

Military architecture heritage is frequently built on rock masses affected by slope instability and weathering processes, which progressively undermine the foundations and cause collapses and toppling of the masonries. The latter can be also weakened by alteration of the stone surfaces, as a consequence of the interactions with the local environmen...

In the recent past, a wide range of protective products (in most cases, synthetic polymers) have been applied to the surfaces of ancient buildings/artefacts to preserve them from alteration [1]. The lack of a detailed mapping of the permanence and efficacy of these treatments, in particular when applied on large surfaces such as building facades, m...

In 2005, the remains of a Roman villa, dating from the early fourth to the sixth centuries ad, were discovered at the archaeological site of Aiano-Torraccia di Chiusi (Siena, Italy). After being abandoned in the sixth century ad, the complex was occupied by a group of Ostrogothic or Lombardic artisans in the period between the sixth and the seventh...

The San Leonardo pulpit in Arcetri (12 century) is an unicum in Florence. The first documents place it in the Church of San Pier Scheraggio, from where in 1782 it was moved to the church of San Leonardo in Arcetri. Inside the church the pulpit was again dismantled and reassembled in 1921 by Opificio delle Pietre Dure, with the addition of new parts...

In Calabria (Italy) original examples of earth buildings called “casedde” are present distinguished from the houses realized in stone or bricks that are indicated with the term “casini” or “turri”.The historical centres of Sambiase and Nicastro, villages which belong to the municipality of Lamezia Terme, in the Tyrrhenian side of Catanzaro province...

A portable hyperspectral device (ASD-FieldSpec FR Pro) has been employed for the characterization of alterations affecting the marble facade of the Santa Maria Novella church (XIII cent.) in Florence (Italy). The ASD-FieldSpec FR Pro collects the reflectance spectra of a selected target area (about 1.5 cm2). The spectra of calcite, gypsum and other...

The continuous control of the conservation state of outdoor materials is a good practice for timely planning conservative interventions and therefore to preserve historical buildings. The monitoring of surfaces composition, in order to characterize compounds of neo-formation and deposition, by traditional diagnostic campaigns, although gives accura...

Apuan marbles originating from different zones of the Apuan Metamorphic Complex have been characterized from the chemical, petrographical, microstructural and physical points of view. All samples were subjected to accelerated ageing by thermal cycling and their petrophysical parameters evaluated. After accelerated ageing, all samples show an increa...

In December 1998, during excavation for the construction of a new building near San Rossore railway station in Pisa, the remains of ancient ships were discovered. These findings have been dated (radiocarbon) to between the end of the 10th centurybcand the fifth centuryad( Belluomini et al. 2002 ). Several transport amphorae belonging to the Helleni...

The aim of this paper is to describe and highlight the role of artificial stone materials used by man through history in order to further the understanding of history itself. The study of artificial materials such as mortar, plaster, ceramics, etc. made and used over the centuries, augments our knowledge of the "Material Culture." It provides infor...

Los granitoides de arco pre-deformacionales de San Luis son asignados al Cámbrico tardío-Ordovícico temprano, y conforman una serie de extensos afloramientos en el cordón de El Realito y en la zona norte del plutón La Escalerilla. El magmatismo es calcoalcalino de alto K y se aloja en metasedimentitas regionales de grado bajo a medio. Está represen...

Some Florentine historic buildings have ornamental elements (for instance stringcourse, metope, or coats of arms), ashlars, false “bugnato” or the complete façade, realised in artificial stone; this is mainly a characteristic of the period between the XIX and XX centuries, contemporary to the increasing use of the modern hydraulic binders (cements)...

The pre-deformational Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician arc-magmatism of the Sierra de San Luis forms several outcrops of which Cordón de El Realito and La Escalerilla pluton are the most extensive. High-K calcalkaline magmas intrude low- to medium-grade metasedimentary rocks in both areas. The oldest event is represented by arc-type, metaluminous...

Sovana, in the southern part of ancient Etruria (Tuscany, Central Italy) represents a centre of high historical and artistic values. Its Etruscan necropolis is particularly important, even compared to other centres of ancient Etruria, in view of the fact that all the major kinds of funerary architecture of the Tyrrhenian region are present: one of...

Two very important historical areas have been considered in this work. Piazza della Signoria with the Palazzo Vecchio and many other outstanding buildings, is a typical example of the use of sandstone materials characteristic of the Florentine area; Piazza del Duomo with the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore standing in the middle is, on the other...

Ion beam induced luminescence (IBIL) was applied, along with cathodoluminescence (CL), on seven samples of marbles of historic and architectural interest. The CL colours, observed in a cold cathode device, have been related to the IBIL spectra. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the IBIL spectral features has made it possible to disclose the influenc...

In previous laser cleaning tests and analyses carried out on fossil bones, we demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the laser approach. Based on these results, we designed a cleaning procedure employing fibre-optic-delivered Nd:YAG laser radiation, integrated with other conventional cleaning techniques, such as micro-sandblasting and ch...

The main aim of this work was to study the characteristics of the mortar binder used in the building of the bridge called ≪Ponte di Augusto≫, erected over the river Nera (Narni, Italy) in 27 B.C .. Mineralogical, chemical, physical, micropaleontological, granulometric and petrographical analyses were carried out on whole samples and on the binder i...

The varicoloured slates of the Cavo Formation in the Gràssera Unit represent a succession of debated stratigraphic and paleogeographic pertinence (Tuscan Domain, Ligurian or Ligurian-Piedmontese Units) within the complex tectonic puzzle of the Elba Island. With this in mind, the authors carried out petrographical, illite crystallinity and mineralog...

The Grotta of Buontalenti (GB) was built at the end of the 1500s during the Medicean period. One of the rooms that constitutes the Grotta is decorated with mosaics composed of tesserae of stained glass. The GB underwent several restorations, which took place between the end of the 1700s and 1980s, which are poorly described and documented, leading...

In this work we present preliminary results on the application of laser cleaning to palaeontological findings, such as fossils included in various stone matrices. Laboratory tests were carried out on samples of fossil bones of mammals collected from Italian sites by using a Nd:YAG laser system developed for the conservation of stone artworks. Prior...

Mesostructural analysis carried out in several localities of western, southern-central and southeastern Iceland shows an unexpectedly frequent occurrence of strike-slip faults parallel to, or lying at relatively small angles with, the axis of rifting. Some faults can be interpreted in terms of shear parallel to the rifts, whereas others form conjug...

Samples of ceramics from the Village of Coppa Nevigata (Foggia, Italy), which was inhabited from the Neolithic to the beginning of the Iron Age, were examined. The ceramic artifacts are mostly hand-made, and fulfilled a considerable number of functional and formal needs. The samples selected are representative of the types of vases used in the diff...