The stone building materials of the vernacular architecture in Tuscany (Italy)

Tuscany, historical region sited in central Italy, is characterised by a great variety of landscapes, from the white and sharp peaks of the Apuan Alps to the gentle rounded hills of the Crete Senesi, reflecting the geology of the region characterized by a diversity of lithological types. In these landscapes, villages and towns are inserted in a perfect harmony, each one with a unique identity given by the architecture and the typical colours of the building materials. As a matter of fact in the past centuries the materials for architecture were dictated primarily by the local availability. In the paper an overview of these materials will be given focusing both on their use in architecture and on their most frequent decay problems.