Memories in stone

Most of the portals and stairways of historical Neapolitan buildings were made of stone, often, a dark stone, known as piperno. In general, the year of construction as well as the designer of the portal or stairway is known only for those buildings of considerable historical and architectural importance. It is possible to attribute to architects such as Bartolomeo Picchiatti, Cosimo Fanzago, Ferdinando Sanfelice and Ferdinando Fuga several huge portals and stairways, while in most cases only the century of manufacture can identified, with the work being accredited to local craftsmen (often Fanzaghiana or Sanfeliciana). These “stone memories” are therefore an epochal expression of culture, with the art of lapidum incisores being a cultured and refined testimony of a craft tradition that binds a multiple formal inventiveness to a constructive use and treatment of stone. The knowledge project of typical and atypical examples highlights the variety of inventive designs as well as skillful ability to adapt to the shape and structure of the stones. Simultaneously, an architectural survey of the portals and stairways as well as a modelling and subsequent rapid prototyping will make it possible to intervene on degraded stone elements.