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In the field of historical buildings, the wide use of lime as a binder in various contexts of application emerges from a series of artistic and archaeological evidence in the Apulia (Italy) from the 4th century BCE to the 15th century CE. The large availability of carbonate rocks in the geological substratum from Daunian Subappennines to Salento areas strongly influenced the material culture of the region. In this paper, significant study cases were presented to bring to light the technological complexity, almost completely cancelled by the widespread presence of industrial products, in the use of lime over the centuries. Through examples of use from antiquity to the modern age in Apulia (Egnatia, Lamapopoli, Tertiveri, Siponto, Lucera and Monopoli sites), technological solutions indicating an ecological dimension of production were discussed, bearing witness to technologies on a human scale and sustainability. The comparison of petrographical (POM, SEM-EDS) and mineralogical (XRPD) results indicated the technological trend and custom for lime production in the Apulian region that starts from the choice of the stone to be calcined and the aggregates and passes through the modalities of lime hydration and preparation of the mixture up to the laying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Casamassima old town, locally known as "blue town", is widespread stratified blue paint covering the facades of the historical buildings, not reported in the archival data and historical sources. The archaeometric results presented in this study aimed to investigate raw materials, in particular pigments, used to cover the facades to contribute more precisely to the historical reconstruction of this local custom. A set of nine samples was collected from two representative historical buildings and observed by reflected light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDS) and their mineralogical characterisation was carried out by means of X-ray powder diffractometry (XRPD). The comparison of the mineralogical and elementary results and the stratigraphic, morphological, and microstructural observations made it possible to highlight a significant stratification of these plasters and to recognize the artificial ultramarine blue applied with lime, as the main mineral pigment, together with red ochre and blanc fixe. The identification of pigments was crucial to date the blue plasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]