Ludovisi Cloister

Site: Roma
Year: 2014
Client: MIBACT - Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo e l'Area Archeologica Centrale di Roma
Area: 1470 mq
Team: Acaia 61 Studio Architecture - Arch. Marina Magnani Cianetti (S.A.R.) - Dott.ssa Rest. Francesca Mancinelli

The Ludovisi Cloister is the small cloister of the Certosa di Santa Maria degli Angeli, the Carthusian monastery that in 1561 was founded on the site of the Baths of Diocletian. It is now part of the National Roman Museum.
During the first phase of the restoration site, stratigraphic tests were performed to identify the original level. The operation was preceded by a careful reading and comparison of previous investigations. 
Two plaster samples were also taken on which to perform stratigraphic sections. The stratigraphic sequence showed several layers with different colors: the oldest (presumably the original) proposed the travertine color for the moldings and pilasters and an opaque ivory white for all the other surfaces.
The depth consolidations to restore the adhesion between plaster and plaster were carried out punctually with micro-perforations. The gaps in the plaster have been compensated with a coarser mortar in the deeper areas and on the surface with the same mortar used on the "smoothing" of the plaster. The areas still covered by the layers of maintenance paint have been cleaned to bring out the original finishing layer. Once the entire area of ​​the prospectus was compensated, we proceeded to paint it with the color closest to the original. During the restoration of the surfaces, in the lunette of the last span of the north-east ambulatory of the cloister, a "Pietà degli Angeli" was unearthed, the memory of which had been lost due to the overlapping paint over the years.