Metal Ties in Genoa, Italy: Manufacture, Trade, and Use from the 15^th to the 18^th Century

ABSTRACT

The article deals with the use of metal ties in an ancient and stratified urban context, the city of Genoa, starting from the notarial documents preserved in its State Archives. The work has different objectives: to show the results that can be obtained, on an urban scale, thanks to a research path that compares indirect sources of different types with the observation of historical buildings; to highlight the “weight” and the role that the ties, often hidden, had in buildings, and not only the monumental ones; to increase knowledge of the production process of this constructive element. The wide and diversified use of metal ties found in Genoa seems to proceed in parallel, in the 15th century, with the development of a flourishing productive and mercantile business based on the commercial monopoly of the hematite of the island of Elba by the city oligarchy and, between the 16th and 17th centuries, with the huge investments in the construction sector highlighted by the abundant documentary sources.

KEYWORDS:

• Archival documents
• building techniques
• construction history
• Genoa (Italy)
• ironworking
• metal tie rods
• modern age
• old-fashioned technical vocabulary
• trade of iron
• transport of iron

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Rita Vecchiattini for the information derived from treatises and manuals, Anna Decri for the clarifications on the 18^th-century construction sites studied by her, Chiara Calderini, Pietro Cevini, Claudio Montagni, Daniela Pittaluga, and Giovanni Spalla for the photos kindly provided and all the staff of the archives consulted.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.