Piazza Castello

The typical stone square obtained by laying cubes of usually Dolomitic extraction is visually proposed here with square Colombino split elements with 16 cm of side, covering a part of the driveway of the Cervo castle. The 4 cm-thick slabs are layered on a reinforced base structure made of welded mesh. The slabs are divided by a generous joint space and each slab is placed in the middle line of the immediately near slabs on the adjacent rows. The road, marked by luminous bodies installed flush with the ground, across the road, and is flanked on both sides: on the uphill side, the orography of the terrain in slight upward slope limits the extension of the flooring, mainly with three wooden finished platforms of rectangular shape, and also with raised parts with Colombino containment step edges. On the other side, near the castle and the sea, Colombino elements again define the limits between automobile and pedestrian traffic. A hybrid space is thus created on the side of the castle, working as sidewalk as well as a raised extension of the piazza itself, with urban fixtures for sitting, flower beds and trees. In this point the slabs of Colombino slabs have their upper surface mechanically grooved, with size varying from 20 x 45 cm to 45 x 70. Their thickness of 4 cm completes the stratification on cement mortar for about 12 cm and screed of reinforced concrete with welded mesh for another 12 cm. The floor design results from the ordered laying of slabs of different width, side by side and row by row. The color combination of natural materials is particularly successful between the newly laid sandstone, the “matter-ish” aspect of the headers of the wall perimeter of the castle, the wooden terraces and the green inserts. This is how this landscape, rich with marine and hilly visuals, is completed: with a sophisticated sense of continuity between the elements.

Alberto Ferraresi