I materiali di Villa Garzoni (Collodi)

Abstract

 Villa Garzoni and its garden are an extraordinary example of 18th-century Tuscan taste and culture. They are located on the slope of a hill at the mouth of the Pescia di Collodi stream in the Pescia plain (northern Tuscany). The garden presents scenographic and surprise effects that are part of a single decorative ensemble of great stylistic coherence. The steeply sloping terrain influenced the planimetric organisation, which develops along a central axis of symmetry, with an arrangement of terraces. In this paper the results of a diagnostic campaign performed on the materials of the villa and garden are reported. Stones, mortars and plasters were identified and analysed according to a well-established chemical and minero petrographic approach. Local and imported stones, raw materials and technologies used for the preparation of mortars and plasters, materials used for decoration were identified. To plan the best restoration approach their state of conservation was assess.