The first Italian Rammed earth restoration guidelines

Rammed earth is one of the earth construction techniques in Italy. Nevertheless the approach proposed in the Guidelines can be applied to other earthen-architecture technologies too. Nowadays part of the rammed earth heritage is lost due to neglect and to the idea that a new house, made of "performing" contemporary materials, is synonymous with better living and architectural quality. But something is changing: the growing attention of the Public Administration and the ever more pressing environmental problems demand a more sustainable approach to the building process. The Guidelines evolved on the basis of these thoughts. The starting point is the belief that keeping this heritage alive means keeping it inhabited. To make it possible it is necessary to reintroduce earthen heritage into the normal real estate cycle. This step is not automatic since in the last decades, both the knowledge and the technical know-how were lost, due to the interruption in memory. The Guidelines goal is contributing to fill this gap. This paper illustrates the project that led to the development of the Rammed earth restoration guidelines.