Mortar Characterization of Historical Masonry Damaged by Riverbank Failure: The Case of Lungarno Torrigiani (Florence)

The research of structural masonry associated with geo-hydrological hazards in Cultural Heritage is a multidisciplinary issue, requiring consideration of several aspects including the characterization of used materials. On 25 May 2016, loss of water from the subterranean pipes and of the aqueduct caused an Arno riverbank failure damaging a 100 m long portion of the historical embankment wall of Lungarno Torrigiani in Florence. The historical masonry was built from 1854–1855 by Giuseppe Poggi and represents a historical example of an engineering approach to riverbank construction, composed of a scarp massive wall on foundation piles, with a rubble masonry internal core. The failure event caused only a cusp-shaped deformation to the wall without any shattering or toppling. A complete characterization of the mortars was performed to identify the technologies, raw materials and state of conservation in order to understand why the wall has not collapsed. Indeed, the mortars utilized influenced the structural behavior of masonry, and their characterization was fundamental to improve the knowledge of mechanical properties of civil architectural heritage walls. Therefore, the aim of this research was to analyze the mortars from mineralogical–petrographic, physical and mechanical points of view, to evaluate the contribution of the materials to damage events. Moreover, the results of this study helped to identify compatible project solutions for the installation of hydraulically and statically functional structures to contain the riverbank.