THE EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE AND STANDARD REQUIREMENTS

“Un muro costruito con mattoni crudi riesce giovevole alla salute degli abitanti dell’edificio, resiste ottimamente agli incendi e non subisce soverchio danno dai terremoti ..” (L.B. Alberti, De re aedificatoria)
Foreword
The current regulatory framework that controls and legitimate construction activity in Italy is greatly lacking if referred to the development of tools for the discipline of earthen buildings; the Testo unico per l’edilizia (DPR 380/2001) indicates the allowable building systems, as already outlined in the previous Law. 64 of February 1974, including those contemplating masonry regardless of the materials in the masonry. It would be legitimate to note that the construction in Adobe may be considered as masonry at all and therefore they fall within the masonry construction techniques that are legalized both for the purposes of conservation work and for new construction. Some regional regulations are more specific, as a result of the law n.378/2003 that delegates the regions for the protection of the heritage of the rural local rules; instruments have been introduced for the purpose of enhancement of earth construction in their territory.
Looking at the map of the spatial distribution of earthen buildings in Italy is noted that these are widely present in most of the peninsula and in particular in Piemonte, Lombardia, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria and Sardegna; to a lesser extent also in Umbria and Toscana. However, only very few regions have set up regulatory instruments for such specific assets. In the international context historical , or contingent, reasons produced a more careful transfer through the time of the dictates of a so ancient building technique until reaching, in recent times, the approval of a harmonized building code. […]