CATENE E ANCORAGGI METALLICI NEGLI EDIFICI STORICI GENOVESI

Anna Boato

Dipartimento di Scienze per l’Architettura - Università di Genova,

stradone Sant’Agostino 37, 16123 Genova, aboato@arch.unige.it

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to provide a picture concerning the iron tie-rods used in Genoese pre-industrial buildings.

The data derive from: 1 - a rich collection of archival documents dating from the twelfth to the eighteenth century; 2 - the investigations on the buildings of the old town and the surrounding area carried out in the Laboratory of Archaeology of Architecture; 3 - the researches on Ligurian ironworks conducted by the Center of Studies on the History of Technology in the seventies and in the eighties.

We can now describe these elements from different point of views: formal type and size, function, production processes, ways of working and joining the pieces, ways of use, frequency of use.

The decoding of the ancient technical vocabulary is one of the priorities of the research: what does it mean “chiavi di trappe da 2 a fascio”? what is a “bisquadro” piece of iron? These words and expressions are now incomprehensible even to an Italian.

A correct interpretation of the ancient words help us to understand the documents even in their technical aspects, often neglected, and can provides a significant aid in the investigation on the ancient material and on the existing buildings.

Parole chiave/Key-words:

Catene, storia, Genova, produzione, uso / tie-rods, history, Genoa, production, use