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Petrographic characterization and durability of carbonate stones used in UNESCO World Heritage Sites in northeastern Italy

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Abstract

This paper presents the petrographic and textural characterization of some ornamental limestones widely used in UNESCO World Heritage Sites in northeastern Italy, and the assessment of the main decay factors present in the environment where they are employed. Eleven carbonate building materials have been here considered, all commonly present in the built environment of northeastern Italy: two different varieties of Vicenza Stone (Nanto and Costozza), of Verona Stone (Red and Brown Verona), of Asiago Stone (Pink and White Asiago), and of Chiampo Stone (Ondagata and Paglierino), the Istria Stone (Orsera), the Aurisina Stone, and the Botticino Stone. The Carrara marble is also considered, and used as a reference material for the determination of the grain-size distribution. Stone durability was measured by accelerated aging tests which reproduced freeze–thaw and salt crystallization cycles, among the main causes of deterioration in the region. Petrographic and textural features of these carbonate rocks as well as their porosity resulted to strongly influence their deterioration rate, and their knowledge is, therefore, essential when trying to predict stone decay as a function of the local environmental forcings.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to LAMA (Laboratory for Analyzing Materials of Ancient Origin, IUAV University of Venice) for providing the ultrasound equipment, and to the University of Parma for the Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry analysis. Samples were provided by Colosio snc, Grassi Pietre srl, and Euromarmi srl, which are also acknowledged.

Funding

This research was funded by Project CPDA151883 of the University of Padova (C.M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6, 25131, Padua, Italy

    Silvia Salvini, Chiara Coletti, Lara Maritan, Matteo Massironi, Alberto Pieropan, Richard Spiess & Claudio Mazzoli

  2. Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, Italian Ministry of Culture, 3553, Venezia, Cannaregio, Italy

    Silvia Salvini

  3. Nordexplo’ srl, Via Stadio 15/1, 36072, Chiampo, Vicenza, Italy

    Alberto Pieropan

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  1. Silvia Salvini
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  2. Chiara Coletti
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  3. Lara Maritan
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  4. Matteo Massironi
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  5. Alberto Pieropan
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Correspondence to Claudio Mazzoli.

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The authors declare that the above research was supported by Project CPDA151883 of the University of Padova (C.M.). Moreover, the authors also declare that no other support was received during the manuscript preparation, and they have no relevant or non-financial interests to disclose. All authors contributed to data acquisition and to the different parts of the manuscript. All images are full propriety of the authors with the exception of the following images which are under CC BY 2.0 and CC BY 3.00 license (free to share and adapt for any purpose even commercially with credit of attribution): Colin Hepburn [3b]; Bradley Griffin [3c]; David Nichols [3d]; Antonio Cozzolino [3 g]; Gary Pembridge [3 h]; Litany [4i]; Chesi [5e]; Gehadad [5f]; Abassign [5 g]; Martin G. [6a]; Felipe Tofani [6c]; Geoff Livingston [6e]; Tomas Galvez [6 g]; Jorg Bitter Unna [6 h]; ap [6j] or in the Public Domain [4a, 4b, 4c, 4 h, 5d, 5 h, 6f, 6i].

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This article is part of a Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “Building Stones and Geomaterials through History and Environments – from Quarry to Heritage. Insights of the Conditioning Factors”, guest edited by Siegfried Siegesmund, Luís Manuel Oliveira Sousa, and Rubén Alfonso López-Doncel.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

12665_2022_10732_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary file1 Figure 1S. Vicenza Stone in the cultural heritage: a) Loggia Cornaro in Padua (Nanto Stone); b) Church of Saint Lawrence in Vicenza (Nanto Stone); c) Olympic Theatre in Vicenza (Costozza Stone); d) Barbaran da Porto Palace in Vicenza (ground floor in Nanto Stone, first floor in Costozza Stone); e) statue at Villa Pisani in Strà, Padua (Costozza Stone); f) original sculpture decorating the façade of Saint George’s oratory, now in the cloister of the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua (Nanto Stone); g) Palazzo della Ragione in Vicenza (Costozza Stone); h) sculptures in Prato della Valle square, Padua (Costozza Stone) (TIF 24706 KB)

12665_2022_10732_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary file2 Figure 2S. Aurisina Stone in the cultural heritage: a) Devil’s Bridge in Cividale del Friuli; b) Duino Castle; c) Imperial Palace in Wien. Orsera Stone in the cultural heritage: d) detail of a common Venetian building where the whiteness of Istria stone contrasts with the color of bricks; e) detail of Salute church in Venice; f) Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna; g) Bridge of Sighs in Venice; h) Cathedral of Fermo; i) a traditional kažuni of the Istrian peninsula (TIF 13156 KB)

12665_2022_10732_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary file3 Figure 3S. Chiampo Stone in the cultural heritage: a) detail of a column in Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza; b) Exchange Palace in Genoa; c) headstones in the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) War Cemetery in Bordighera; d) International Archives Building in the Bahá’í World Centre of Haifa (Israel) e) “Palazzo Grande” in Livorno; f) Courthouse in Bolzano. Verona marble in the cultural heritage: g) lion sculptures supporting a column at the entrance of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo; h) Arena in Verona. Asiago stone in the cultural heritage: i) Asiago War Memorial. (TIF 13181 KB)

12665_2022_10732_MOESM4_ESM.tif

Supplementary file4 Figure 4S. Botticino Stone in the cultural heritage and modern architecture: a) Grand Central Terminal in New York; b) CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) Phaleron War Cemetery in Athens; c) Capitolium of Brixia, the Roman Temple dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian in Brescia; d) Vittoriano Monument in Rome; e) White House in Washington DC. Carrara marble in the cultural heritage and modern architecture: f) Harvard Medical School in Boston; g) Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, h) Michelangelo’s David, i) Oslo Opera House, j) Prem Mandir Hindu Temple in Vrindavan, India (TIF 15941 KB)

12665_2022_10732_MOESM5_ESM.tif

Supplementary file5 Figure 5S. The full set of samples: capillary rise after 30 minutes, marked by a dotted yellow line, studied on two different stone orientation (TIF 99889 KB)

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Salvini, S., Coletti, C., Maritan, L. et al. Petrographic characterization and durability of carbonate stones used in UNESCO World Heritage Sites in northeastern Italy. Environ Earth Sci 82, 49 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10732-y

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