Municipality of Ravenna
RAVENNA (RA) | 2014
The monumental cemetery of Ravenna is located on the banks of the Candiano canal, 3 kilometres from the city’s historic center. Started in 1879, it was designed by Engineer Romolo Conti on the model of the Lombard monastery, with its system of cloisters, cells and rooms.
The restoration work involved the left staircase, which allows access from the courtyard area of the ground floor to the wing of the monumental complex. It consists of a flight of concrete and lime steps and two sidestepped parapets, made of solid bricks surmounted by cement crowning slabs. Thanks to some preliminary surveys, it was possible to identify the load-bearing structure, consisting of bricks laid directly on the ground. Finally, the conservative restoration chosen aimed at restoring the cohesion of the materials compromised by the degradation and at the same time improving the future conservation of the staircase. The choice of the phases and methods of intervention, their succession and the materials used, take into account both the environmental problems that interact and the type of architectural element in question.
The operational phases implemented include:

• surface cleaning;
• biological disinfestations;
• buffer washing with cycles of distilled water of the brick portions that contained soluble salts;
• washing with surfactants specific to the surfaces assisted by mechanical action;
• disassembly of the steps;
• rehabilitation of surfaces;
• consolidation of disassembled parts;
• repositioning of the disassembled steps;
• insertion of metal reinforcements;
• stuccoing of the steps;
• reconstruction of the masonry;
• fall arrest installation;
• protection through transparent siloxane protective treatment.