R. Fort, M. Alvarez de Buergo, M. Gomez-Heras & C.Vazquesz-Calvo-Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract
Villa della Regina", built at the beginning of the 17th century, on the hill of Turin (Italy), is the last example of a "Vigna" residence with Italian gardens, palace, woods and vineyard. Gardens, park, and palace were enlarged and modified many times in the following centuries and suffered reparations, damages and substitution. From 1994 the "Villa" is in charge of the "Soprintendenza per il Patrimonio Storico e Artistico di Torino" who is carrying on the restoration. The works gave a chance to analyze the stone materials, to assess the present state of the manufacts, to locate the extraction sites, and to reconstruct the historical stages of the building and repair works. The authors provide a description of the stones employed in the different parts through a petrographic characterization, of the observed decay, of the identified quarry sites, and an evaluation of the results of the conservative intervention. Stones employed in the "Villa della Regina" represent a catalog of the ancient fine marbles and decorative limestones of Piedmont, most of them no longer exploited. In the conclusions a sinthetic account is given of the inter-relation between architectural development and local marble industry in the 17th-18th centur
