TRA TEORIA E PRATICA: l'utilizzo delle reti metalliche nei plafoni teatrali di inizio Novecento in area emiliana.

This paper aims at investigating advantages and disadvantages of the use of wire meshes as means of support for false ceilings plaster. We investigate the development of the conditions of use of wire meshes between XIX and XX century by comparing two kind of data: on the one hand, those found out in historical building manuals, and on the other hand, those obtained by the study of some cases belonging to historical Emilia-Romagna theaters. In particular, we examine the benefits that the XX century authors of manuals and false-ceilings restorations foresaw and the inconveniences that they couldn’t predict: their stability and the major resistance to earthquakes, the phenomenon of surface deposits and diffuse stains on stucco as a consequence of chemical degradation. Finally, we present some hypothesis based on the results of chemical laboratory analysis on mortar samples of two selected case study, in order to provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemical interactions between lime mortar and wire meshes.