The Riminaldi’s Lithotheque (Ferrara): an example of stone materials’ archives in Italy.

An important part of the Italian cultural heritage is constituted by monuments built using natural stones. Unfortunately some of the stone resources used for building, architectural and sculptural purposes are currently exhausted and our knowledge is restricted at the materials used for them. This fact can cause problems not only during stone material research for new monuments but also considerable influences in planned restoration of monuments, originally built with stone that are not more available. The Riminaldi’s Lithotheque was donated in the 1763 at the Ferrara Borough by the nobleman prelate Gian Maria Riminaldi and currently is displayed at the Bonacossi Palace in Ferrara. The Riminaldi’s Lithotheque is unique and made with extreme care and accuracy; it well represents the double aspects pursued during the Age of Enlightenment where the erudite people were interested in sciences and antiquities. The Riminaldi’s Lithotheque well synthesize the great marble works season in Rome during the middle of the XVIII century. The Lithotheque is constituted by a small wood “consolle” with a intricate manufacturing; inside it is composed by 131 plugs of natural stones, each one classified using its Latin name. In this work each type of rock represented in the Lithotheque will be characterized using a petrographical approach. The stone materials in the Lithotheque have been then compared with the materials presented in the published stone Atlases in order to identify authentic lithologies, or stone showing similar properties. The results will be useful in the choice of better stone materials during the reconstruction of historical monuments