The role of Diagnostics in the Restoration Project

Over the last few years, in the field of restoration and conservation, the techniques used to evaluate the extent of damage are becoming increasingly more important before carrying out any work on a historical building. The diagnostic phase is the instrumental, methodological and procedural means of guidance and control during the preliminary cognitive examinations of the building which requires work. For this reason, in the restoration project, the procedural sequence is heavily based to the cognitive phase. In order to evaluate the conservational state of a structure correctly, it is necessary to understand the symptoms of the degradation and the principal cause. When this correlation is unclear there follows the planning and carrying out of a series of cognitive investigations. There is a preference in using indirectly destructive or non destructive investigative techniques to evaluate the state of the damage and degradation of monuments. These tests, which are carried out in situ, are based on identifying global physical properties present in the walls or the walls’ components and provide information about their behaviour. This study presents the planning and implementation of a series of surveys, carried out in situ, preliminary to structural consolidation and redevelopment work on a medieval castle: the castle of Cancellara (South Italy).