Creative Solutions for an environmentally sustainable restoration

The Dottor Group was awarded this project because of their innovative, eco friendly solution, which lowers restoration costs while preserving the pristine natural, environment which envelops the Mura Urbiche. The wall, situated on a steep mountain peak and surrounded by thick vegetation, will be saved from deforestation by eliminating the need to construct a cable car to deliver materials from the valley to the work site. Pietro Dottor solved the problem by creatively using his experience in hauling equipment on mules to base camp during an extreme mountain excursion in Aconcagua. Specially trained, young mules from Chamonix will be used to deliver materials to the Mura Urbiche work site, an ancient but dependable and safe method.

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Location: Vittorio Veneto (TV), Monte Cucco
     
History of the building: The southern and western city walls of Serravalle, a small Venetian outpost, reinforced the natural defences of the town, nestled on the steep slopes of Montesel, the lowest peak of Monte Cucco, in the section between the "porta di soto”, or lower gate (now known as Porta dell'Orologio or Clock Gate), and the castle at the top, mentioned in 1347.
The present layout of the surrounding walls trace back to 1360. A document of year 1360 refers to the walls joining the two strongholds as the "new wall" surrounding the village area south of the castle. In 1324, Cangrande della Scala had seized the valley and laid siege to the high passes above the town and, therefore, in 1337 the Republic started work on strengthening the walls on the western and southern sides, in order to supplement the natural defences, which consisted of rocky ridges. We have firsthand historical information about Serravalle and its walls from a young man, Marin Sanudo, who undertook a long journey in 1483 in the company of his cousin, a member of a commission charged by "the Serenissima" to check up on the work of the administrators of the "dry land" provinces. His description tells of two castles, facing each other, on two elevations, marking the limits of a valley with a river, the Meschio, running through it, surrounded by walls and with the castle of the podesta lower down.

Structural, architectural and artistic intervention: the job of Dottor Group is, first and foremost, to ensure that the monument survives in the future by doing structural consolidation work with three aims: finding the structure's weak point, restoring its structural functionality based on the existence of the 3 sides, which involves rebuilding the collapsed wall and the installation of a new beam. Each piece of work must be clearly recognisable, according to sound restoration practice, and that is the reason why a Corten steel "blade" will perform the static functions of the collapsed part of the wall. The debris inside the tower will be "excavated" using the archaeological method and catalogued; it might even be possible to find the floor level.
The constituent materials will be suitably reinforced in order to restore that minimum textural continuity that is dangerously lacking at the moment and, as far as possible, to halt the erosion of the sandstone and of the mortar in the joints. The damage to the wall structure will be repaired with clearly identifiable operations and recycled materials will be used as much as possible. All the work will be done under the guidance of the Superintendence.

Type of work: Restoration and improvement of the Town Walls
   
Duration of works: 06/04/2010-28/10/2010
Client: Municipality of Vittorio Veneto
General contractor: Dottor Group S.p.A.
Works Manager: Architect Alberto Torsello
Coordinator for security: Giovanni Matteazzi