On the spread of wooden trusses composed of bolted planks in the Italian post-war period

Since the first post-war period, wooden trusses composed of bolted planks spread widely in place of the full section trusses, whose production became prohibitive due to the scarce resources of metal and timber and the high import costs. Several hypotheses can be advanced on the actual origins of these peculiar wooden trusses. The present contribution aims to investigate the construction technique, and the diffusion of this peculiar type of wooden elements in Italy. The diffusion of these trusses needs further investigation: although economic and poor, they testify a knowledge transfer between America and Europe in the late 1800s early 1900s. In fact, while today these structures are easily replaced when faulty, their importance as representative elements of a semi-prefabricated construction technology is undoubted.