GRIMOLDI, ALBERTO1; RICCARDI, MARIA PIA2; CANTU’, MICHELA3; COFANI, MARCO4; LANDI, ANGELO5; TARANTINO, SERENA CHIARA6

1) Professor, Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani, alberto.grimoldi@polimi.it

2) Professor, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, mariapia.riccardi@unipv.it

3) PhD student, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, michela.cantu01@ateneopv.it

4) Post-Doctoral Research fellows, Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani, marco.cofani@mail.polimi.it

5) Post-Doctoral Research fellows, Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani, angelo.landi@mail.polimi.it

6) Professor, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, serenachiara.tarantino@unipv.it

Historic buildings in Cremona are characterized by the almost exclusive use of earthen mortars, also for plasters. The use of earthen mortars was a conscious choice and the masonry structures are of very good quality. The thickness of the walls is considerable, at least four heads of bricks, their tissue is regular from the front to the back of the wall. Their resistance to compression has shown results similar to those of walls of the same period constructed with lime based mortar.

Preliminary data of the archaeometric study reveal the compositional and microstructural complexity of the earthen mortars. The properties of some clay minerals to absorb water may be useful in many respects in a climate where the relative humidity is high. The empirical knowledge would allow the exploitation of a country resource.

Keywords: Cremona, earthen mortars, lime