Red cotto floor: recovery of a valuable surface

This section dedicated to extraordinary recovery work allows us, as you know if you are frequent visitors to the pages of this blog, to travel through the wonderful cities that enrich our Bel Paese.

This time we are none other than Florence, but the cotto rosso that we talk about on this occasion comes from Impruneta, a town of the metropolitan city of the Tuscan capital, known (among other things) for the terracotta industry and for the “cotto dell’Impruneta”.  

Since this month we are dealing with a recovery of a red cotto floor, why not discover something more about what Giovan Battista Casotti called a “Comunanza di dodici piccoli Borghi” and its famous cotto?

Impruneta and its red cotto

Extended between the Ema stream and the Greve river, the territory of Impruneta is characterized by the cultivation of cereals, the name of the municipality comes from the Latin “pinus” (“in pineta”) and at least until the end of 1800 it was basically a set of houses, dwellings and villages.

Among the most famous village festivals there are certainly the Fair of San Luca, dedicated to the patron saint, and that of the grape that takes place every last Sunday of September, while among the main monuments and places of interest there are the Sanctuary of Santa Maria in Impruneta, Villa Corsini in Mezzomonte and that of Larderei.  

The so-called “cotto dell’Impruneta” has instead origins that date back to the 11th century, when they were found the first documents that attested the realization of terracotta of the area and in 1419 it was none other than Filippo Brunelleschi to select the terracotta of the impruneta for the realization of the Dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria a Monte.  

A cotto characterized by the high presence of Galestro clay, of which the land of this area is rich, handmade by local artisans who follow different methods, such as “model”, that of “round work” and that of “background work”.

A tradition carried on even with the formation of the new generations (there are many workshops organized starting from elementary school) and this time leads us precisely in a specific way of Florence, Via Taddea, where a recovery of a floor in cotto red, coming from Impruneta.   

Recovery of a cotto floor in Via Taddea

Originally known as Via di Sant’Orsola, because of the homonymous convent, Via Taddea is located in the heart of Florence and owes its current name to the Taddei family who lived in a building on the corner of this street.

In this street, where there is also the palazzetto de’ Serragli, a structure with a mysterious history (we do not know the date of construction, nor who owned it and its architectural development), was carried out the recovery of a floor in red cotto Impruneta.

For this delicate recovery work, two detergents were used: SGRISER, strong remover for stone materials and VIACEM, strong acid descaler for cotto and terracotta.

After applying SGRISER pure on the floor it was expected to take effect, and then rub the affected surface with BROWN DISCS.  

An operation that led to the formation of a slurry, subsequently eliminated clean water, and followed by the application of VIACEM, rubbed once again with BROWN DISCS.

The result of this splendid work of recovery is to have given a new life to this historic Florentine street characterized by the precious cotto floor of Impruneta!