ABSTRACT
In the past, it was empirically clear that pozzolana provides hydraulicity to lime mortar, enabling its setting in wet conditions or underwater. Furthermore, it was known that the addition of pozzolana was useful to increase the durability of lime mortar, allowing it to overcome the need of repeated maintenance and accelerating the carbonation process, as it has been also scientifically proved (Collepardi, 1993). Up to now, however, such favorable properties of natural pozzolana have been subdued to relatively little scientific investigation carried out by means of mechanical tests. Due to the widespread use of pozzolana lime mortars in historic masonry, wider scientific and technical issues about mechanical properties of this kind of mortars would be very useful in repairing and maintenance of historic architectural heritage.
