ABSTRACT
The increasing demand for sustainable low-strength binding materials, to be used in the conservation of historic masonry structures and as an eco-friendly architectural material, has stimulated the investigation of the properties and performance of clay-based mortars. This chapter focuses on the chemical and mineralogical characterization of the raw materials employed and in the interpretation of their reaction processes, especially the degree of pozzolanic reaction between lime and the reactive component of the clay fraction. Apart from the traditional masonry construction techniques based on the utilization of lime, widely diffused in the historical architecture of the Western culture but still characterized by a high environmental and energetic impact related to the lime calcination process. In 1944 a crypt, perhaps unfinished, was discovered. Mortar samples from the crypt and the church were studied, all characterized by the utilization of lime- soil mixes as binding media.
