Ancient Brick ‘n Mortar

Ailsa of Where’s My Backpack? fame — no, she STILL hasn’t found it — wants us to take on her latest travel-themed photo challenge brick-by-brick via WALLS.

Let me get my plumb bob, chalk line and hand trowel out of the toolbox and we’ll get this virtual job order underway.

As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day,” and neither was the Bel Paese, where the Eternal City resides.

Long before the Romans, though, there were the Etruscans. These “under the Tuscan sun” tribes relied on volcanic tuff to build their hill-top homes, workplaces and walls — walls to keep the unwanted out, and the residents well protected. Today, their handiwork is still on display — over two-and-a-half millennia later — but it’s slowly and sadly crumbling away. You can read more about the demise of Etruscan architecture at Il Paese che Muore.

Now we can fast-forward to the Caput Mundi, where the B.C. meets the A.D.

Here, the scalpellini (stonemasons) set to work to adorn Rome with magnificent palaces, villas and monuments, along with proletarian dwellings, pedestrian walkways, and lots, and lots of walls, now constructed from stone, lime and sandstone.

Later, the innovative fired clay and mud bricks were introduced — by i Romani — which, in turn, gave rise to a new group of tradesmen known as as muritori (bricklayers). Trade unions and associated sciopperi (work stoppages) could not have been very far behind.

By the time the Renaissance appeared and gained momentum in the 14th century, bricks were still widely used as one of the primary construction materials, but were quickly covered with plaster once the mortar dried and then exterior facades were laid over the frame to give the structures depth, style and appeal. Only the walls, those beloved walls, were left unadorned in naked brick, stone and rock.

Today, Italy continues to be innovative and creative in its building trades, applying new techniques and materials to both antique restorations and modern, state-of-the-art structures. But, it does so mindful of its past — a past that was founded on ancient brick ‘n mortar.

©The Palladian Traveler

©Tom Palladio Images

______________________________________________