Studio Bressan undertook the restoration of "Portello Colmarion" due to the deterioration of the historic wall, caused by the passage of time and vegetation, although no structural defects were observed in the walls. An investigation was carried out on the original materials and existing strata to provide a basis for the subsequent consolidation, restoration, and integration of the wall's masonry elements.
The original appearance of the medieval gate was recovered by joining and sealing the existing joints with a special mortar composed of a conglomerate of natural sediments typical of the Asolo hills. The project includes artificial lighting, repaving under the gate, redesigning the bicycle and pedestrian paths, adding a staircase, and implementing a parapet system.
"Portello Colmarion" Restoration by Studio Bressan. Photograph by Emanuele Bressan.
Project description by Studio Bressan
The project for the conservative restoration of Portello Colmarion, in Asolo, in the Veneto region, takes place in a landscape context straddling the anthropized part of the city village on one side and the thick vegetation of the hilly forest on the other. The portal, belonging to the medieval walls dating back to the fourteenth century of the city, is positioned in a panoramic hilly area at 379m above sea level which allows you to dominate the plain below, consolidating the meaning that the poet Giosuè Carducci gave to the village: the city of a hundred horizons. Due to the elevated position of the gate, the site has an extraordinary panoramic point of view facing the system of western of Asolo hills and the top of Monte Grappa.
In line with the restoration interventions carried out on the walls in recent decades, it was preferred to abandon the romantic image of the historic walls surrounded by vegetation, in favor of a conservative restoration that would improve the perception of the historic building and its relationship with the city.
The door has a masonry structure made up of parts in bricks and parts in stone ashlars roughly squared. Apart from the degradation due to time and vegetation, there were no particular signs of structural failure of the walls. After a devitalization and subsequent careful removal of the parasitic vegetation, a series of investigations were carried out on the stone materials, on the original mortars and on the stratigraphy of the traces of plaster present. Thanks to these investigations it was possible to prepare a sequence of accurate operations of consolidation, restoration and integration of the most conspicuous gaps in the masonry of the building.
The study relating to the materials made it possible to identify that the original aggregates of the mortars consisted of a mixture based on lime and puddingstone: a natural sedimentary conglomerate typical of Asolo hills and made up of rounded fragments cemented with limestone, silica or clay-based binders. The grouting and pointing of the joints with this special mortar has allowed to give the original image back to the medieval gate, a unique monument of its kind and a distinctive feature of Asolo hilly area.
The image of the gate was further enhanced with the installation of an artificial lighting system. The project also included the resurfacing of the river pebble pavement below the portal, with the redefinition of pedestrian and cycle paths by inserting a staircase on the north-east side of the building and a system of parapets to protect the pedestrian paths characterized by steep slopes.
