PORFIDO DEL TRENTINO TRENTINO PORPHYRY L’eleganza nella Pietra La durezza nel Tempo Il rispetto per l’ Ambient

In 1972 the professionals in the porphyry sector constituted a voluntary consortium which was at first named “Ufficio del Porfido” (Office of Porphyry) and then E.S.PO. Ente Sviluppo Porfido (Porphyry Development Company). Over the years E.S.PO. has become a reference point in spreading the knowledge of the Porphyry of Trentino, which is unique for its quality and aesthetic features. As a matter of fact, E.S.PO. arranges conferences, exhibitions, workshops and architecture awards in various Italian and foreign cities. It also organizes guided tours to the mining and working areas and to the laboratories,...

“Lo terzo, che di sopra s’ammassiccia, porfido mi parea, sì fiammeggiante, come sangue che fuor di vena spiccia” (Purgatorio Dantesco Pg. IX 100-

TRENTININISCHER PORPHYR is the only extrusive igneous rock which presents a natural surface and which has been used by the ancient Assyrian Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations for sculptures and architectural works thanks to its beauty and hardness. Walking on a 260-millions of year-old solidified lava flow in Porphyry of Trentino is a unique experience. The elegance of its colourings ranging from grey to red and purple, including many other shades creates a play of colours, those of the autumn of Trentino, which allow the creation of unique and unrepeatable works of art. Modern architecture...

Cubes These are used top ave historic centres, streets, squares, arcades, pedestrian precincts, pavements, garden pahs; they are produced in standard sizes, (4/6, 6/8, 8/10, 10/12) or fixer on request.

Polygonal slabs These are used to pave courtyards, avenues, pavements, pedestrian crossings, gardens and for wainscots in homes. They are available as follows: normal and thin with sizes ranging from 15 to 35 cm; very large with sizes above the normal range. The slab thickness varies between 2 and 5 cm.

Small blocks Natural quarry surface uppermast and the other sides cut. They can be used to delimit and border a paved area. Both normal and giant sizes are produced.

Kerbstones They are used to border all sorts of paving. They mark out foothpaths, squares, and road sides, as well as traffic-divider areas or steps.

Quarry broken tiles They are normally used in architecture for restoration and are functionally well suited for historic centres, squares, streets, arcades and pavements. Produced with a natural quarry surface and split sider, in the sizer of from 10 to 40 cm as desired, squared or of set size with a thickness ranging from 3 to 6 and from 5 to 8 cm.

Sawn tiles These are used internal and external wall facings. They are available in the sizes from 10 to 40 cm as desired or in set sizer on request, with a natural surface and sawn edges.

Polished and semipolished tiles These are the most suitable for paving and facing the interiors of important buildings and offices. The flat surfaces of the polished tiles are sawn and the thickness most used is 2 cm whereas it is variable for the semipolished tiles. The width can be chosen between 15 and 40 cm; the length as desired or fixed.

Flame-processed tiles, brushed, socles, skirting boards These sre obtained with unpolished tiles as from the frame, or polished or treated with an oxyhdrogen flame thus leaving the surface in a state of roughness thet is almost natural but far more precise. The adges are milled and the thickness is almost always 2 cm. Widths may be from 15 to 40 cm; lengths as desired or of a fixed size. With the same technique, socles and skirting-boards can be made with a minimum thickness of 1 cm and the lengths as desired or fixed.

Steps Porphyry is used to face steps of various types: both the rise and the tread can be faced with tiles as from the quarry, flame-processed or sanded. Polished and semipolished tiles are the most suitable to face indoor staircases; whereas massive natural steps of various types can be produced with the treads and the sider either natural or worked.

Coarse tiles When these coarse tiles are laid on their sides one next to the other they are used for paving roads with a steep gradient or ramps giving access to garages roundabout; when they are laid flat cut side uppermost they are used for facing both indoor and outside walls, pillars, wainscots.

Rustications Used for facings and aesthetic embellishments in the building industry, it is also suitable for facing the banks and beds of rivers, for external supporting walls and for road embankments.

SlES Custom made articles of porphyry Hearths, tables, benches, fountains, washbasins, portals, kerbstones, doorsteps, carriageways and any other product for private or public use can be made from natural stone.

Crushed-Inert matter Crushed: it is used in the bitumen draining and sound absorbing conglomerate (4-8, 6-12, 10-16 mm), railway ballast (31,5-50 mm), inert matter for concrete (sand 0-2, 0-4, 16-30 mm), for street foundations (steady 0-30, 2-4, 2-6, 4-8) or for other production on demand. Inert matter: for street foundation (quarry 0-500 mm) land reclamation and as infilling material for building industry (scree with irregular form 10-150 mm), gabionades.

Technical manuals They are very useful instrument for the planning. THE MANUAL OF PORPHYRY explains in detail the typologies, the features and the laying techniques of the different kinds of product. THE LAYING TECHNIQUE OF PORPHYRY collects many rules and practical suggestions for the laying of the products. THE SPECIFICATIONS are ideas and technical suggestions for the use and the laying.

Porphyry Museum Inside “Porphyry Home” you can visit the museum making a travel among the geology, the history of the porphyry, the quarrying, the working processing, the laying, the porphyry in the world and the environmental reclamation

(ACCORDING TO THE REGULATIONS OF THE VOLUNTARY COLLECTIVE TRADEMARK ‘TRENTINO PORPHYRY OF CONTROLLED ORIGIN")