Traditional masonry buildings on the Tuscan Apennine Mountains. The abandoned villages around Firenzuola

This work is part of an ongoing project developed by a team made up of researchers, young undergraduates and fellows from the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence. The general aim is to provide a contribution to the knowledge of the rural architecture of Upper Mugello to enhance more aware recovery actions. The investigation concerns the recovery of building techniques, the preservation of the authentic characters of ruined buildings and the development of maintenance procedures. The focus area is the territory of Firenzuola, along the Santerno river and its main tributaries. Several abandoned villages have been identified as case studies, including Pratalecchia, Brento Sanico and Castiglioncello. The research is set up in two parallel actions of investigation: the first is dedicated to the study of documentary sources for the reconstruction of the historical and construction events of the settlements, the second is aimed at the direct study of the buildings. The results of the first investigations carried out on the village of Pratalecchia are presented here. A general picture can be outlined of basic architectural models and their evolutions, the building techniques, the architectural languages to be safeguarded and the main causes of deterioration. The work made it possible to set up further extensions of the survey to other settlements and to outline a first methodological approach for the sustainable recovery of the architectural heritage of these rural areas.