Costruire “alla moderna”. Materiali e tecniche a Genova tra XV e XVI secolo

The aim of the books is to reconstruct how the buildings of the historic town of Genoa were built during the 15th and 16th centuries. For this purpose, the author uses both documentary and archaeological sources, which are strictly compared. Fortunately the historic town counts approximately 2500 houses, which can be studied and dated with archaeological methods, such as stratigraphy, chronotipology or dendrochronology. On the other hand the State Archive keeps a lot of ancient buildings agreement (the first dating from 12th century), that contains useful information about masonry techniques, construction materials, provenance of workers, prices, and so on. The collation of more than 200 documents, the deep analyse of two late medieval houses and the comparison of words and objects allowed the author to translate and explain ancient vulgar Latin and vernacular words, but also to join a best knowledge of the construction manner of that period of time, that was characterized by a mixture of tradition and innovation elements. The book gives also some new information about the different roles of the people who contribute to built the town in that period: the so called “magistri antelami” (architects and stonemasons), who designed and realised the new architectures; the other craftsman, who collaborated in the construction process; the clients, who ordered and accepted the construction works; the member of public magistracy, who controlled the materials quality and the respect of the laws.