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On today's episode of "paving beyond asphalt and concrete":
the "RIZZATA/RIZZADA"(in Lombardy) or "CIOTTOLATO/ACCIOTTOLATO" is a paving made of river pebbles that diffused mainly in the Po Valley between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century
the "RIZZATA/RIZZADA"(in Lombardy) or "CIOTTOLATO/ACCIOTTOLATO" is a paving made of river pebbles that diffused mainly in the Po Valley between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century
First, it was mainly used to pave main squares, churches's parvis and other surfaces of important public spaces, in order to avoid the formation of mud. It was a cheaper than using large squared stones and more durable than the compacted earth soil common at the time
The pebbles are laid on a sand or fine earth layer, and gently hammered down one by one. It is extremely permeable and a little grass often grown in winter months. The shape of the rizzata paved roads is convex, the opposite of modern ones, that are laterally cambered.
As the noise of coach wheels and horses' hoofs on the pebbles proved intolerable and the riding pretty uncomfortable, two lines of parallel large stones were added in the center of streets, called "Carradore", "Carraie" (meaning "for karts") or, less frequently, "Guidane" (rail).
It became the standard for urban street for most of the 19th century, until the increase in traffic and the advent of the tramway, whose vibration regularly dug out the pebbles around the tracks, paved the way for a new technique, the "basolato", but that is for another day..
As it's common, the pebbles became ready-made weapons in urban riots. Famously, the roads of Milan were completely torn apart during the 1848 "five days" riots against the occupying Austrian troops and during the 1898 strikes, when the army replied with cannons to stones throwing
The incompatibility of the rizzata with modern traffic and rapid diffusion of bicycles, decreed its demise in most street. It survived though and even came back in many low traffic street in city centers, as a permeable, solution in pedestrian or low traffic areas
The extensive introduction of "Carraie", together with stone sidewalks, is proving a decent compromise solution to provide ADA and bicycle** a friendlier smooth surface.
**and don't forget people wearing high heeled shoes, especially in fashionable Milan, that's important!
**and don't forget people wearing high heeled shoes, especially in fashionable Milan, that's important!
And this is the previous episode: https://twitter.com/ChittiMarco/status/1294402764802596864?s=20
