The mortars of Giotto's Bell Tower (Florence, Italy): raw materials and technologies

Giotto's Bell Tower is known as one of the most important religious buildings of the 14th century in Florence (Italy). Its different construction phases have been well documented over time. The possibility of analyzing mortars collected from different construction phases, allowed us a complete chemical, mineralogical, petrographic, physical and mechanical characterization of these materials, improving the knowledge of building technologies and raw materials used at different times. In addition, knowing the approximate time of production of the mortar samples, it was possible to verify if they are suitable for radiocarbon dating.