New methodological approaches to the survey on timber historical foundations

Waterlogged wooden artefacts coming from foundations are a very peculiar category in the huge world of cultural heritage. The present paper reports on the results obtained from a diagnostic survey on wooden samples from loggings made on the wooden foundations of two ancient belfries. The importance of a multidisciplinary approach is well known in the world of conservators, but in cases like these it is crucial to bring together different experts and skills of several fields, including for example architecture technology, wood technology, chemistry, restoration and dendrochronology, in order to take advantage of their experience in making a correct diagnosis of structures that very often are still working. Authors want therefore to stress on the basic problem of the conservation of buildings with waterlogged foundations, through the promotion of an International comparison of experiences on the same research topic.