Cupole nel paesaggio. I rivestimenti estradossali in rapporto al cantiere storico di costruzione e restauro

The paper focuses the issues of the construction and conservation site of the extrados coverings of the domes in the Campania region. Conceived to waterproof and protect the domes from atmospheric agents, these coverings have become, over the centuries, connoting elements of the historical centres and natural contexts of Campania. Within the fundamental issue of the history of construction, the paper deals with the role of domes in the landscape, with particular reference to the relationship between the construction, conservation and structural strengthening yard and the extrados coating, which followed hand in hand the first two, considering that it is not possible, both in the cognitive and study phase as in the restoration and conservation intervention, to separate the bearing structure of the dome from its superficial part. The case studies of the coverings used on domes in Campania are wide – ranging from the majolica tiles, to the hexagonal lead or to the beaten lapillus – and in all cases the extradossal surface that has become over the centuries the place of interface between the dome and its context, and it connotes it in the landscape in which it stands out. Learning about these construction specificities, also analysing their evolution through the analysis of historical construction site documents comparing with the physicality of the artefacts, is the essential exercise to be able to act, today, in their conservation in a technically prudent and culturally aware way.