“PULVIS ES”: L’ARENARIA MOLERA NEI FRONTI ESTERNI DELL’EX MUNICIPIO DI VIGANÒ (LECCO).

Mariangela Carlessi1, Alessandra Kluzer2

1-2 arcch. liberi professionisti – docenti Scuola Specializzazione Beni Architettonici e Paesaggio, Politecnico di Milano   mariangela.carlessi@buildingcc.com, alessandra.kluzer@buildingcc.com

ABSTRACT 

The intervention on the old Town Hall of Viganò has been focused on the preservation of its exterior architectural and ornamental elements, all made using the Molera Sandsone, once quarried from the head on hills of Viganò. The Molera quarries, fully exploited for three centuries (as the ongoing research on documents is proving), brought notoriety to the town of Viganò and are often mentioned in guides, handbooks and treatises on architecture. This particular sandstone has been used mainly for the architectural and sculptural elements in the gardens of the Milanese villas, but also as a building material (masonry, sills, jambs, architraves, rails, chimneypot etc.) in the areas surrounding Viganò. The Molera was esteemed for its warm colour and its workability but it soon desplayed its vulnerability to the atmospheric agents. The issue of its conservation has been far-back developed, as far as the technical aspects (with interventions that soon turned out to be inappropriate) and the topic of the “lacuna” are concerned.

The intervention on the Town Hall - a building of the late 19th century that had been abandoned for two decades - was planned in order to preserve in full the Molera decorative elements, the masonry and, as far as possible, the plasters. This was done both through structural and “restoration” interventions, avoiding replacements and reintegrations, unless it was necessary to give back efficency to the single element.

KEY-WORDS: Viganò, Molera, Sanstone, preservation, town-hall