Tradition and innovation for the walls of the Cinque Terre

by Ludovica Schiaroli

A few weeks ago ended the first training course for learning innovative and experimental techniques for the restoration of dry stone walls which had as its objective the development of skills and professional training of the “maintainers” of the Park’s paths. Eight hours aimed at experimenting with innovative and easily applicable techniques in the context of the reconstruction or reinforcement of dry stone walls.

The lessons are part of the first training cycle envisaged by Stonewallsforlife, a European project led by the Cinque Terre National Park, which intends to demonstrate how the ancient technology of dry stone walls can be used to increase the territory’s resilience to climate change.

«The tested consolidation system, simple to implement, represents an application in a modern key of solutions used in the past – explains Patrizio Scarpellini, Director of the Cinque Terre National Park – The tested technique is based on the vibro-driving of continuous threaded bars to increase friction in the ground and reach the deepest parts of undisturbed ground, in order to contain the most unstable ashlars (wall + loose ground); this method is ideal for consolidating dry stone walls that have overhangs beyond the vertical».

«Another key step is the distribution along the wall facing of the pressures generated by the vibro-driven bar: in this case, a so-called “distributor” (small metal element, perfectly integrated on an aesthetic level) has the task of discharging the pressure and at the same time to stabilize the stones of the wall», concludes Scarpellini.

The behavior of the walls in which the bars have been positioned will also be evaluated thanks to the data collected by the multi-parameter monitoring stations recently installed by researchers from the University of Genoa.