Knowledge and preservation of the Chiostro Piccolo in Certosa di Pavia, an example of integration between construction and decoration in Sforzas artistic culture.

Inside of the monumental complex of the Certosa di Pavia, the Chiostro Piccolo seems to play a secondary role in comparison with the sumptuous marble façade of the adjacent church and the large architectural measure that characterizes the innovative typological articulation of the Chiostro Grande. But, after a careful analysis, this little courtyard, built around the middle of the XV century, is an amazing example of integration between the constructive knowledge bequeathed by the Lombard gothic bulding site and the spatial sense in the earlier Renaissance plastic research. The typical Lombard clay brick had been used by Guiniforte Solari both for the elegant sequence of the arches of the portico and for the high-relief decoration of the medals –and their polished iconographic program - that articulate the fronts. Later, Giovanni Antonio Amadeo chose the same material when he was called to realize the monumental fountain in the northern wing of the portico. This kind of brick doesn’t have superficial glaze and for this reason it is extremely fragile and vulnerable to the degrade caused by the time and the atmospheric agents. Using methods of survey by digital photo-modeling allows precise investigations on the state of preservation or degradation of this extraordinary example of “sculptu-architecture” that shouldn’t have been possible with the traditional way of survey and two-dimensional representation.