Analysis of the surfaces of the walls and the building techniques and materials, showing up the restoration stages and the repair works

Angevin period

Curtain wall and tower building materials: traces of roughly-worked straw yellow local travertine, with good compactness, average porosity and unknown mechanical resistance since no laboratory analysis has been carried out.
Laying methods, equipment and section of the wall: a not always precise linearity of the rows can be noted. The masonry has two well-toothed faces. The blocks are placed with a decreasing amount of mortar the closer they are to the external surfaces. The section of the wall is about 80cm.
Average dimensions of the blocks: 20x25cm
Type of mortar: a mixture with lime and clay (mainly) as the binders and a type of sand with medium-low granulometry as the aggregate.
State of conservation: some phenomena of biological patina and presence of vegetation. In some cases, the pressure exercised by roots of both small and large trees which have grown up on the structures and around their base, overcomes the mechanical resistance of the stone, causing lopsidedness all along the town walls. The enormous amount of vegetation and particularly the lack of periodic clearing of the ground around the base of the town walls, nowadays prevents an overall view either of their length or height.
The lack of a drainage system causes localized phenomena of deterioration (cracks, distortions and collapse). During the 20th century, almost the whole top perimeter of the walls underwent conservation interventions, and sealing was been carried out using mortar with a cement binder and sand, gravel and grit as the aggregate. From the chemical-physical-mechanical point of view, this material is incompatible with the local travertine and so there have been widespread phenomena of collapse, cracking and growth of biological patina. The whole height of smaller parts of wall structures not overcome by infesting vegetation underwent general strengthening of the joints with incompatible mortars. Operations defined as ordinary maintenance are still going on today.
Porta Piazza gate: this consists of blocks of local squared travertine, laid in regular horizontal rows with a small amount of mainly clay-like binder. The average dimensions of the blocks are between 20x20 cm and 20x30 cm.
The buttressed earthwork supporting today’s F. Pepe square: this is made of roughly-shaped local travertine blocks, laid in horizontal rows with a mainly clay binder. The average dimensions of the blocks are between 20x20 cm and 20x25 cm.
All the masonry of the buttresses is made of square blocks of local travertine, placed in regular rows with only a little binder.

The Habsburg fortress:

Building materials: local straw yellow travertine, with medium compactness, porosity and mechanical resistance. Here and there are some stone elements (finely worked and squared) of a lighter colour and with good compactness. This is a travertine coming from the Ascoli quarries. The presence of brick wedges is rare.
Methods of laying, equipment and section of the wall: it is possible to note a certain horizontal unevenness of the rows. The masonry has several well-toothed faces. The blocks are placed with a decreasing amount of mortar the closer they are to the external surfaces. The average section of the wall varies according to the areas, and is between 100 and 300 cm.
Average dimensions of the blocks: 20x25cm
Type of mortar: a mixture with lime and clay as the binders and sand with medium granulometry as the aggregate.
State of conservation: widespread biological patina and presence of vegetation along the outside face of the fortress. The presence of a large amount of vegetation and the lack of periodic clearing of the ground, especially on the northern side of the structure, nowadays prevents an overall view either of the length or height of the defensive structure.
The lack of an efficient drainage system causes localized phenomena of deterioration (erosion, blooming, stains, detachments, cracks and distortion, etc.) of the masonry structures.
During the 20th century, the top part of almost all the fortress perimeter was involved in sealing and protective interventions with mortar with a cement binder and sand, gravel and fine gravel as the aggregate. From the chemical-physical-mechanical point of view, this material is incompatible with the local travertine and so phenomena of collapse, cracking, biological patina, and surface deposits are widespread.

Post-union period

Building materials: travertine from Ascoli, (worked in quarries and then transported to Civitella), of a light colour, with good compactness, medium-low porosity and no laboratory analysis of mechanical resistance:
Laying methods, equipment and section of the wall: horizontal rows can be noted. The mortar joints between the blocks are about 1 cm thick.
Average dimensions of the blocks: 25x30cm
Type of mortar: mixture with lime and the clay as binders and sand with a medium granulometry as the aggregate.
State of conservation: phenomena of biological patina, surface deposits and localised presence of vegetation along the outside face of the masonry structures of the fortress.