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

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 survey; analysis of degradation type; degradation maps; static verification); ii) diagnosis (investigation project and diagnostic analysis); iii) therapy (material restoration; swott analysis, intervention mode and architectural 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 accurate 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 porosimeter (MIP). The material knowledge of its degradation state allowed to choose also the protective product by means of a compatibility test (UNI 10921:2001).