ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of an experimental study of an icon of historic brick construction in southern Italy; the Pietrasanta Bell Tower, located in Graeco-Roman Naples. The thermographic survey has proved indispensable for interpreting the state of conservation of the brickwork, defining the specific characteristics of the bricks, mortar and recovered materials. The chapter analyses an isolated bell tower built in the Middle Ages, made up externally of listed brickwork masonry, an anomalous material compared to most of Naples' cultural heritage landmarks, which were usually constructed in yellow Neapolitan tufa. The Bell Tower is distinguished from its context by the use of exposed brick alternated with reused marble elements. From the time of its construction the Bell Tower displayed a bare brick facing alternating in several places with recycled materials. The Bell Tower roof features a truncated pyramid structure, again of brickwork.
