ABSTRACT
Roman bricks undoubtedly record a long saga of foresight and organization trough the Mediterranean Basin. Sun-dried bricks, Vitruvius underlined, should be made only in spring or autumn and, to guarantee complete and uniform drying, they should be made at least two years in advance. The best bricks, like those at Carthage, had been left to dry for five years (Olesone, 2005). Under the Empire, when bricks were visible on the skins of buildings, they were no longer the structural material, in spite of their firing process. They were simply a protective layer covering a strong structure of concrete. Like marble, used in Roman buildings and mainly in slabs for facing, bricks are more “cosmetic” materials than really structural resources (Boorstin, 1992). They cover a solid core of concrete. At the same time this ceramic skin could be separated from the core and reused, as it occurs in medieval architecture (Figs. 1-2).
