Characterisation and differentiation of pigments employed on the façade of “Noto’s Valley” monuments ( Sicily)

Most of the “Noto’s Valley” monuments fac¸ades, located in different towns of Sicily such as Ragusa Ibla, Modica and Noto, present different colours and in many cases the towns themselves are characterized by evident chromatic variations. The knowledge of colour and in particular the characterization of pigments is of utmost importance in the baroque Sicilian buildings, because the peculiarity of the colour is one of the features thatmakes the “Noto Valley” monuments aWorld Cultural Heritage site. The present works aim is to characterise and differentiate the pigments used on the fac¸ade of monuments and inside the plasters. In particular, we perform a micro-textural and analytical analysis through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a mineralogical investigation through the conjunction of optical microscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). All the experimental results have allowed us to clearly classify the pigments into earths rich in clay minerals and earth containing gypsum. Furthermore, we also show that the earths rich in clay minerals from Ragusa and Modica areas have local provenance.