Historical Use of Metal Tie-Rods in the Italian Territory: Treatises, Essays, and Manuals through Four Centuries of History

ABSTRACT

The use of metal tie-rods in buildings is documented and visible in many Italian areas since the 15th century. This article refers to the study of treatises, manuals and essays from the 15th to the early 20th century, mainly in the Italian context with some exceptions of certain foreign texts that, due to their diffusion and importance, have greatly influenced the technical literature on the subject. Technology is an expression of the social, economic, cultural, political and juridical events of a country and, as such, is deeply linked to the times and territories in which it develops. However, it is also closely linked to the laws of nature and to forms of communication, therefore it is useful to compare, underlining the analogies and differences, the knowledge and the ways of the productive and technical process in a long-term analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Forged iron
• history of the constructions
• indirect sources
• manuals
• tie-rod
• streatises

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Anna Boato for the information deriving from the study of archival documents; Chiara Calderini, Carlo Battini, and Paolo Piccardo for their sharing of the research topic and the useful disciplinary comparison; and Carlo Cavagnaro and Antonetta Nunziata for their fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Architecture and Design Department (dAD) of University of Genoa (Italy) with funds PRA 2016 (University Research Project).