10.6092/issn.1973-9494/10350
In the borough of Casolla, near Caserta, a large number of proto-industrial buildings still exist that were used for the production of animal glue between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The driers, an integral part of these structures, characterise the urban landscape, emerging with their long, high volumes from the mass of traditional buildings. The position and orientation of the driers of the glue factories (known as collére), as they can still be seen today, were chosen solely for the purpose of achieving a very specific natural regime for the internal microclimate, aimed at maximising air flow and speed in order to accelerate the glue drying process. These formal aspects have been preserved until today, despite the changes made by the owners in order to transform the old driers into modern houses. The glue factories of Casolla, with their driers, constitute a "unicum" from an architectural point of view. A partial and updated re-proposal of the ancient production processes would be unimaginable for conservative purposes, because of their harmfulness to human health and their negative impact on the surrounding environment. That is why their conservation may only take place through refunctionalisation, respecting the typological characteristics and material consistency of the old factories. This type of strategy would be particularly effective due to the specific characteristics of the driers, as it would allow these special characteristics of the cultural landscape of the Caserta area to be preserved.
application/pdf
1973-9494
10350
en
Luigi Guerriero
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
historic sites
The Glue Factories of Casolla: Archaeology of the Structures of a Proto-Industrial Bioclimatic System
Text.Serial.Journal
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/
19
Articles
2020-03-18
2020-01-10
2020-03-18
2020-03-18
177-189
CSCH
Luigi Guerriero
2019
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/10350
177
University of Campania, Naples
1973-9494
historic sites
en
189
The Glue Factories of Casolla: Archaeology of the Structures of a Proto-Industrial Bioclimatic System
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/10350/10606
19
T    HE GLUE FACTORIES OF CASOLLA: ARCHAEOLOGY
      OF THE STRUCTURES OF A PROTO-INDUSTRIAL
      BIOCLIMATIC SYSTEM

   Antonio Bosco*, Roberto Bosco, Luigi Guerriero1
   Department of Architecture and Industrial Design
   University of Campania, Naples, Italy




   Keywords: architectural restoration, industrial archaeology, bioclimatology, his-
toric sites.


   1. Introduction

    In the borough of Casolla located near Caserta, situated in the pre-Apennine area
known as Terra di Lavoro (Liburia in Latin), there is a large number of proto-industrial
buildings which were used for the production of animal glue between the end of the
18th century and beginning of the 20th century. The driers in the glue factories (so-
called collére, a dialectal word of southern Italy, which derives from the noun “colla”
meaning glue) characterise the urban skyline, emerging with their vertical volumes
from the mass of traditional buildings. In the ground-floor rooms, preparatory activi-
ties, such as raw material boiling and application of the glue in sheets, took place. The
glue factories are monuments of industrial archaeology, material witnesses of the pro-
cess of industrialisation of the territory [1], which offer interesting elements due to their
unique concentration in the site examined. They are the most important environmental
elements of this site [2], defining a specific cultural landscape whose characterisation
is correlated with its economic, technological and social aspects [3].
    Interest in the glue factories of Casolla (which played a vital role in the development
of the economy of this borough, between the late modern age and early contemporary
age) has increased, thanks to the possibility of relating the surviving material evidence
(Figure 1-2) to production processes, workers’ conditions and market situations [4].
    In the ‘Decennio Francese’ (historical period of 1806 – 1814), despite the abolition
of feudal rights and the reorganisation of finances and public administration, produc-
tion activities in the south of Italy did not increase adequately. This was above all due to
the high costs of transporting the raw materials and finished goods, given that the infra-
structural network, which deeply limited traffic, was poorly developed and the commer-
cial policy implemented by the state administration was aimed at favouring the French
industry [5, 6, 7]. However, the engineering, iron and steel and textile sectors had
a certain impulse, which produced some effects even after the Bourbon restoration,
especially with the introduction of protectionist measures, that stimulated considerable


*1 Corresponding author: antonio.bosco@unicampania.it
                                                                     foreign capital investment during the third decade of the century. After the Unification of
                                                                     Italy, production structures in the south could no longer compete on the national mar-
                                                                     ket, also due to the fiscal and financial policies implemented by the new regime, which
                                                                     determined a delay in its technological and managerial advancement [8].




                                                                     Figure 1. Casolla (Ce), views of some of the glue factories: a) Pacifico; b) Vanore; c) and d)
                                                                     Abbatiello.
A. Bosco, R. Bosco, L. Guerriero - The glue factories of Casolla




                                                                                  Figure 2. Casolla (Ce), Abbatiello glue factory, preliminary sketches.



                                                                         In the 19th century, there was not only growth in the cotton, wool and ironworks sec-
                                                                     tors [9, 10, 11] in the area of Terra di Lavoro, but also in the production of strong glue.
                                                                     It became widespread especially in the municipalities of the town of Caserta (Puccian-
                                                                     iello, Sala and Casolla) and in the nearby municipality of San Prisco.
                                                                         The borough of Casolla stretches along two main routes (corresponding to Via Mon-
                                                                     tanara and Via Croce – via is the Italian for street). It is located along the Piedmont axis


                                                               178
crossing the boroughs built on the slopes of the Tifatini hills and links the urban centre
of the plain with the mountain nucleus of Casa Hirta. This is a particularly windy site, a
peculiarity that has favoured the development of manufacturing activities related to the
production of glue and particularly the last phase of the production cycle, that consists
in drying the product (Figure 3).




Figure 3. Casolla (Ce), late 19th century cadastre. The glue factories still existing today are
highlighted in blue.




                                                                                                        CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
   2. “Strong glue”

   Animal glue (obtained from fish, skins or bones) was the main adhesive product
used in cabinet-making until the first half of the 20th century, when it was replaced by
synthetic glues. As a result, there was a consequent, sudden interruption in the pro-
duction of the former, that was non-competitive in comparison with industrial prod-
ucts. “Strong glue”, also called “connective tissue scraps”, was obtained from boiling
(in large containers placed on special “tiny furnaces”) animal parts rich in collagen
(connective tissue, skin, tendons and bones), which had been previously purified
with a wash in lime water. This particular type of glue is defined as glue of “Holland
or England” in the Encyclopédie by Diderot and d’Alambert and minutely illustrates
the production process, consisting of the phases of boiling, pressing, filtering, cutting
and drying [12].
   The dense broth substance produced by boiling was collected in wicker baskets
that served as a filter by retaining any impurities and solid residues, separating them
from the liquid rich in collagen, which was poured into special matrelle (i.e. wooden
boxes) where it solidified. Afterwards, the glue was cut into thin sheets, then placed on
telarelle (wooden racks) in the driers, where it remained for a few days and acquired
the right consistency to be sold on the market.

                                                                                                  179
                                                                       3. Glue factories

                                                                         Despite being vigorously developed, especially in the 19th century, the presence
                                                                     of activities linked with the processing of slaughter waste (leather) in Casolla has
                                                                     been attested since the late Middle Ages. The relevant historical records became
                                                                     more numerous in the 18th century, when there was a heated controversy between
                                                                     the inhabitants of S. Prisco and those of Casolla. The former complained about the
                                                                     possible damage that would result as a consequence of the miasmas from the glue
                                                                     factory of Casolla, which were managed by a certain Sir N. Cutillo [13], to the Royal
                                                                     Site of Caserta (evidently instrumentally involved, since the applicants were mainly
                                                                     interested in protecting their own private interests) in 1763. Indeed, the processing
                                                                     of the meat scraps and leather waste, called fleshings, produced a pestilential stench
                                                                     which spread to the surrounding area. This led the royal administration to establish,
                                                                     in 1752, that the three factories involved in the glue production in S. Prisco had to
                                                                     limit their activity to the winter months to mitigate the residents’ discomfort. It was
                                                                     also established that any new plant would be located outside the farmhouse, in the
                                                                     direction of Capua, rather than towards Caserta.
                                                                         In 1763, following the above-mentioned statement, the expert A. Tartaglione was
                                                                     commissioned to investigate whether Cutillo’s factory had caused “any inconven-
                                                                     ience or infection”, reporting that the plant in question, which had been active for
                                                                     decades, had limited its production in winter to avoid any damage. Essentially, the
                                                                     controversy reports how the San Prisco inhabitants attempted to maintain the mo-
                                                                     nopoly on the production of strong glue, which had been endangered by the devel-
                                                                     opment of its production in Casolla, in order “to sell the glue at a high price and also
A. Bosco, R. Bosco, L. Guerriero - The glue factories of Casolla




                                                                     defraud the Royal Treasury which expected to be paid a duty of 2 carlini for each
                                                                     cantajo imported in Naples” (a cantajo corresponds to about 89 kg). Cutillo’s initia-
                                                                     tive had a great consequence, which was the introduction, over time, of the driers: a
                                                                     typical innovation derived from the leather industry, as demonstrated, among others,
                                                                     by the tanneries of Solofra, in Irpinia [14]. L. Giustiniani, in 1797, recalled that the
                                                                     inhabitants of Casolla derived “excellent glue” from both connective tissue and skin
                                                                     waste called “libelluccio” [15], bearing further witness to the spread of the glue indus-
                                                                     try in the local environment. Twelve glue producers were mentioned in the economic
                                                                     statistics of 1862-64 for Casolla, including A. Lombardi who specialised in gelatine
                                                                     and ceased his activity in 1872. One fellow countryman, N. Fusco, was able to make
                                                                     his production appreciated at the Universal Exhibition of Wien in 1873, where he
                                                                     participated with seven types of strong glue [16].
                                                                         In 1889, a report on the industries of the province of Caserta registered only three
                                                                     glue factories in Casolla [17], greatly underestimating the actual presence of this activ-
                                                                     ity attested by the archaeological evidence consisting of production plants with driers
                                                                     dating back to the 19th century. More realistically, 24 glue factories were documented
                                                                     in Casolla [18] in 1931. The introduction of German synthetic products in the last dec-
                                                                     ades of the 20th century finally determined a crisis in production. However, the crisis
                                                                     was not effectively handled and only some feeble attempts were made to introduce
                                                                     new equipment, such as a cavity boiler and a cutting machine. This eventually led to a
                                                                     halt in the radical revision of the production procedures and management systems of
                                                                     the family-run factories which, in the end, were gradually closed [19].
                                                                         Nowadays, 18 glue factories are found in the historic centre of Casolla, largely
                                                                     characterised by the coexistence, due to the family management mentioned above,


                                                               180
of a residential area and several production areas. The latter consisted of ground-
floor rooms, sometimes opening onto the courtyard where both the first phases of
processing were carried out and the masonry tanks were allocated (some of which
are now missing and only marked by negative stratigraphic units on the floors and
along the walls) and which were used for cleaning up the meat scraps, leather
waste and tools. Next to them, were the rooms with the furnace equipped with
one or more boilers supported by masonry structures and from which the liquid
resulting from the boiling was transferred to underground tanks. An external ma-
sonry staircase allowed the transport of the frames with the sheets of glue to the
drier, located on the third level of the building, above the residential floor. The drier
always had a very long rectangular layout (at intervals divided by a transversal
wall, particularly developed in its height and characterised by high, narrow verti-
cal openings (with a curved, or at times, a trabeated end). The closely sequenced
openings extend for almost the entire height and are, for the most part, positioned
on the long sides, a fact which was determined by the width of the internal wooden
frames used for drying the sheets of glue. The architectural style of the alternating
solids and voids, the considerable height and the steeply inclined pitched roofs
(functional to the development of convective motions within such environments)
define the typological and environmental characteristics of the driers (emerging
volumes which characterise the inhabited area considerably) with very interesting
architectonical solutions. As mentioned, they closely resemble those of the tanner-
ies, as underlined by the similarity in their structures and equipment documented
by the drawings in the technical manuals dealing with leather tanning.
   In the glue factories, fleshings were stowed in the courtyards, from which they
were transferred to the ground-floor rooms and cleaned in the largest of the three
tanks that each plant had (the other two were used for washing matrelle and tel-
arelle). They were then transferred to a second room which had a masonry vault
(in order to avoid the risk of fire, linked with the presence of wooden horizontal




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
sections) and put into a copper boiler. The boiler was nearly 1 m high with a diam-
eter of nearly 1.20 m and was embedded in the wall structure of the tiny furnace
that was fuelled by wood.
   In most cases (Figure 4), the structure of the driers is made of masonry in rows
of tufa blocks (stratified yellow or grey) with nineteenth-century and proto-twentieth-
century mensiochronological characteristics [20, 21], confirming what was suggested
by the sources about the meaningful development of this production sector during the
early contemporary age.
   Some glue factories are located around an open courtyard, as in the case of the
plant owned by Fusco, located in Via G. Fusco (Figure 4 – No. 2). This factory is char-
acterised by a ground floor portico, with barrel vaults and dominated by a residential
level (disengaged from a loggia with masonry columns) and by the drier which is ori-
ented east-west and characterised by very high openings and strong external buttress-
es. The Pacifico glue factory in Via B. Croce (Figure 4 – No. 3 and Figure 5) is similar
and the driers tower over two angular buildings. A. Fusco’s glue factory (Figure 4 – No.
4) is disengaged from an open courtyard, in which there is an arched portico with pil-
lars. The back rooms were used for processing (with three masonry tanks of various
sizes) and were served by a back courtyard (where there was a furnace protected by
a roof) on the ground floor, while the drying rooms, ventilated by narrow arched open-
ings, were on the second floor (Figure 6).


                                                                                            181
                                                                            Figure 4. Casolla (Ce), identification of the most interesting existing glue factories.



                                                                        In other cases, the plants have an inner courtyard, as can be seen in the Graziadei
A. Bosco, R. Bosco, L. Guerriero - The glue factories of Casolla




                                                                     glue factory in Via A. Fusco (Figure 4 – No. 5), which underwent important renovation
                                                                     in 1870, when it took on its current appearance. Production activities were concen-
                                                                     trated in the eastern factory building, surmounted by the drying rooms, which had an
                                                                     east-west orientation.




                                                                     Figure 5. Casolla (Ce), glue factories, sketches; a) Pacifico; b) Sparano; c) Vanore; d) Abbatiello


                                                               182
                    Figure 6. Casolla (Ce), the Pacifico glue factory, drier.



    The Brancaccio glue factory in Via Cupa Brancaccio (Figure 4, No. 10) stands in the
suburbs of the borough in an elevated position; it includes nineteenth century produc-
tion buildings with twentieth century extensions around the inner courtyard, including
the drier, situated at the highest level of the building (Figure 7). The tanks and furnaces
have been removed, while the machine used to cut the glue into sheets, the press and
the smoke extraction pipes of the boiler flue used for the fleshing still exist (Figure 8).
The glue factory owned by Fusco in Via Giaquinto (Figure 4 – No. 11), located outside
the town along the road that connects it to the other boroughs, has an inner courtyard




                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
and is surmounted on the east side by the high volume of a well-preserved drier with
an east-west orientation. The Vanore glue factory in Via Montanara (Figure 4 – No. 8),
is equipped with a nineteenth century drying room oriented north-south, which has two
rooms on the ground floor, with barrel vaults, preceded by a portico and is equipped
with a masonry oven and a tank; there is a deposit for finished goods on the first floor;
in the courtyard there is still a shed for drying the skins. Four more underground tanks
are situated in another sector of the courtyard.
    The tools used for processing were kept indoors. There were storage spaces for
the fleshings, cleaning tanks, a furnace and adjacent press, and a glue solidification
and cutting room on the ground floor; the drier was situated on the top floor. A drier
with a north-south orientation was also found on the Fusco property (Figure 4 – No.
6) which faces the parish church of S. Lorenzo Martire, located along one of the main
roads of the borough.
    Likewise, the Marino glue factory (Figure 4 – No. 7), in Via Vanore has an open
courtyard plan, as the result of an important stratification of structures; the drying
rooms, with a rectangular plan and north-south orientation, constitute the top floor of
the north side and have very high arched windows. In some cases, the openings of the
driers are trabeated, as can be seen in the Sparano glue factory in Via B. Croce (Figure
4 – No. 1) which is characterised by stratified structures built around the courtyard;
there is a portico with arches and pillars and the boiling rooms are on the ground floor,
while the drying rooms are on the first floor.

                                                                                              183
                                                                                 Figure 7. Casolla (Ce), the Abbatiello glue factory, plans and elevations.
A. Bosco, R. Bosco, L. Guerriero - The glue factories of Casolla




                                                                     Figure 8. Casolla (Ce), the Vanore glue factory; view of the ground-floor rooms with the masonry
                                                                     boilers for the fleshings.

                                                                         Crossing the streets of Pozzo and Olvitelli, on the southern border of the town, the
                                                                     Fusco glue factory (Figure 4 – No. 12) has a closed courtyard with two drying rooms,
                                                                     the result of a super-elevation, with ventilation openings divided into two sections by
                                                                     flat bands of stone.

                                                               184
   All the glue factories are located along the roads, with the exception of that owned
by Cocozza di Montanara (Figure 4 – No. 9), which, being a pertinence of the homony-
mous palace, is set back from urehe road, presenting itself as an isolated building with
a rectangular plan and east-west orientation.


  4. Driers: a bioclimatic system

   The driers of the glue factories of Casolla are a distinctive feature of the bor-
ough’s urban landscape. The driers are characterised by a planimetric slat configu-
ration and are oriented along the north-south longitudinal axis (with the exception
of some driers oriented east-west, due to the specific conditions of the urban lots),
which almost systematically follows the orientation of the built tissue, dictated in
turn by its disposition along the main roads. Nonetheless, natural ventilation is
maximised in both orientations, because in Casolla, as well as in the whole area of
Caserta, the average wind direction is north-north-east in winter and west-south-
west in summer. The driers’ location, higher than the surrounding residences, guar-
antees complete exposure to the prevailing winds. Furthermore, the sequence of
high openings on the perimeter walls further contributes to the effectiveness of
passive ventilation all year round [22].
   The favourable ventilation conditions are also amplified by the shape and size of
the openings that are present in varying numbers, ranging from 5 to 10, on each ex-
ternal wall. Each opening, measuring 1.5 m (nearly 1.20 m wide and from 5.00-5.60 m
high), is repeated along the envelope walls (from 7.00-9.00 m high). Their shape and
number generate the so-called Venturi effect, i.e. a significant increase in air speed
in correspondence to the opening edges, which further favours drying [23]. These
circumstances, together with the above-mentioned orientation conditions, make the
bioclimatic behaviour of the driers even more effective in comparison with either a




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
completely open environment or a semi-confined shed.
   It was also possible to adjust the speed of the air flows in the driers by using light
wooden screens, suitably positioned in front of the openings in order to attenuate the
ventilation or change its direction as desired.
   Within these structures, the position and size of the wooden frames on which the
sheets of strong glue were laid were consistent with the size and disposition of the
external openings. In the unaltered driers, wooden rods with a circular section can
be noted, placed at a distance of nearly 60 cm along the entire height of the external
openings. Such openings corresponded indoors to the crossbars, which constituted
the leading frames of the drying sheets, divided into two aisles by paths placed at dif-
ferent altitudes, in correspondence with the centre line of the driers, reached by the
workers with ladders.


  5. Conclusions

  In the last post-war period, the culture of restoration abandoned the nineteenth-
century aesthetics used to define monuments. Nowadays, cultural heritage is qualified
exclusively for its documentary value, in accordance with the lesson from M. Bloch,
accepted in the field of the history of architecture and architectural restoration [24].


                                                                                            185
                                                                        In other words, monuments can be identified with all the material records of human
                                                                     history [25, 26] and can be recognized as documenting historical facts and processes.
                                                                     Architectural heritage can therefore be seen as being made up of all structures built in
                                                                     the past, as a result of historical stratifications.
                                                                        The glue factories of Casolla, as monuments of industrial archaeology, are material
                                                                     witnesses of the process of industrialization that took place in Caserta, evidence of
                                                                     artisanal knowledge which is now outdated and no longer reproducible. Moreover, a
                                                                     resumption of the activities of the factories would not be feasible anyway, because of
                                                                     their environmental impact and health risk. Instead, it is possible to propose a demon-
                                                                     stration of the production process only for educational and tourist purposes. The actual
                                                                     conservation of these factories may only be implemented through a refunctionalisation
                                                                     that respects their typological characteristics and material consistency.
                                                                        This strategy would be particularly effective due to the specific characteristics of the
                                                                     driers, as it would enable the preservation of a characteristic element of the cultural
                                                                     landscape of the area of Caserta.


                                                                           Notes

                                                                       The present contribution is the result of a shared commitment from three authors;
                                                                     each of them has individually conducted the following paragraphs: “Strong glue” (Luigi
                                                                     Guerriero); “Glue factories” (Roberto Bosco); “Driers: a bioclimatic system” (Antonio
                                                                     Bosco).
A. Bosco, R. Bosco, L. Guerriero - The glue factories of Casolla




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                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
     2004, pp. 210-254.


   Biographical notes

    Antonio Bosco graduated in Architecture; since 2000 he has been a researcher
in Architectural Technology at the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design
of “Luigi Vanvitelli” University of Campania. Since 2000 he has been an Associate
Professor of Architectural Technology in the same Department. He is interested in
architecture and landscape, with particular reference to the building-environment re-
lationship. He studies bioclimatic behaviour and landscape relevance of buildings
and urban micro-areas. He is also interested in the sustainable design of buildings
and the conscious restoration of the urban landscape. He has collaborated in min-
isterial research and university projects carried out in collaboration with important
public and private bodies.

   Roberto Bosco graduated in Architecture summa cum laude and right of publica-
tion at “Luigi Vanvitelli” University of Campania, with a thesis on “Restoration of the Ca-
thedral of Caserta vecchia” in 2018. He is currently leading a research activity on the
Architectural Restoration course held by Prof. Luigi Guerriero at the same University.


                                                                                              187
                                                                        Luigi Guerriero graduated in Architecture with a Ph.D. in Conservation of Archi-
                                                                     tectural Heritage; since 2000 he has been Associate Professor of Restoration at the
                                                                     Faculty of Architecture of the University of Naples. He has organised and directed
                                                                     research groups and coordinated national scientific initiatives. He has been a member
                                                                     of the scientific council of National meetings and exhibitions. His research concerns
                                                                     the main topics of the twentieth century, the mensiochronological characterisation of
                                                                     construction elements, with related protocol of deterioration and structural modelling
                                                                     and methods and techniques of urban restoration.


                                                                        Summary
                                                                        In the borough of Casolla, near Caserta, a large number of proto-industrial build-
                                                                     ings still exist that were used for the production of animal glue between the end of the
                                                                     18th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The driers, an integral part of these
                                                                     structures, characterise the urban landscape, emerging with their long, high volumes
                                                                     from the mass of traditional buildings.
                                                                        The position and orientation of the driers of the glue factories (known as collére),
                                                                     as they can still be seen today, were chosen solely for the purpose of achieving a very
                                                                     specific natural regime for the internal microclimate, aimed at maximising air flow and
                                                                     speed in order to accelerate the glue drying process. These formal aspects have been
                                                                     preserved until today, despite the changes made by the owners in order to transform
                                                                     the old driers into modern houses.
                                                                        The glue factories of Casolla, with their driers, constitute a “unicum” from an archi-
                                                                     tectural point of view. A partial and updated re-proposal of the ancient production pro-
A. Bosco, R. Bosco, L. Guerriero - The glue factories of Casolla




                                                                     cesses would be unimaginable for conservative purposes, because of their harmful-
                                                                     ness to human health and their negative impact on the surrounding environment. That
                                                                     is why their conservation may only take place through refunctionalisation, respecting
                                                                     the typological characteristics and material consistency of the old factories. This type
                                                                     of strategy would be particularly effective due to the specific characteristics of the
                                                                     driers, as it would allow these special characteristics of the cultural landscape of the
                                                                     Caserta area to be preserved.


                                                                         Riassunto
                                                                         Nel borgo casertano di Casolla sussiste un cospicuo numero di edifici proto-indu-
                                                                     striali utilizzati, tra la fine del XVIII secolo e l’inizio del XX, per la produzione di colla
                                                                     animale, i cui essiccatoi connotano precipuamente il panorama urbano, emergendo
                                                                     con i loro lunghi e alti volumi dalla massa degli edifici tradizionali.
                                                                         La posizione e l’orientamento degli essiccatoi delle “collére”, come ancora oggi pos-
                                                                     siamo constatare, sono del tutto funzionali al raggiungimento di un ben preciso regime
                                                                     naturale del microclima interno, orientato alla massimizzazione del flusso e della velo-
                                                                     cità dell’aria al fine di accelerare il processo di essiccazione della colla. Questi caratteri
                                                                     formali si sono conservati fino ai nostri giorni, nonostante le alterazioni apportate dai
                                                                     proprietari per trasformare gli antichi essiccatoi in moderne abitazioni.
                                                                         Le “collére” di Casolla, con i loro essiccatoi, costituiscono un “unicum” dal pun-
                                                                     to di vista architettonico, per le quali non si può immaginare, ai fini conservativi,
                                                                     una riproposizione seppur parziale e aggiornata delle antiche funzioni produttive,
                                                                     a causa della loro nocività per la salute dell’uomo e dell’impatto negativo sull’am-


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biente circostante. Per tale ragione la loro conservazione non potrà che attuarsi
attraverso una rifunzionalizzazione rispettosa dei caratteri tipologici e della con-
sistenza materica delle antiche fabbriche. Questa strategia risulterebbe partico-
larmente efficace in ragione degli specifici caratteri degli essiccatoi, costituendo
una condizione essenziale per la salvaguardia di un elemento caratterizzante del
paesaggio culturale dell’area casertana.




                                                                                             CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE




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