Timber Structures of Florence Cathedral: Wood Species Identification, Technological Implications and Their Forest Origin
, Marco Degl’Innocenti 2, Francesca Mannucci 3, Ilaria Stefani 1, Simona Lazzeri 1 and Samuele Caciagli 3,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors,
The manuscript provides an interesting investigation of the wood species used for the structures of the Cathedral of Florence, one of the largest churches in the world. The identification of the 408 wood samples was performed by the sampling method. It was shown that the most represented among the wood species for structural elements are silver fir, chestnut and elm. The technological implications on the use of wood species within the wooden covering structures of the cathedral and the main sources of timber that the builders had available were discussed.
Minor points:
1. It would be better to use correct binomial names for all identified wood species: Abies alba Mill., Castanea sativa Mill., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Ulmus L., etc.
2. For better understanding and comparative analysis, if it is possible and you have results, it would be very interesting and useful to add the data about the density of these wood species.
3. It would be better to increase the font of the text for Figures 3,4.
4. For lines 200-201, 217, 313 it is necessary to delete technical typos “Error! Reference source not found”.
Author Response
The authors would like to thank the reviewer for the careful analysis of the original manuscript and for suggestions to improve the quality and comprehensibility of the article.
About the 4 minor points:
- Done, now the scientific names report also the authors.
- We have measured the wood density of some elements from cores, but only for white fir. The ranges we found are similar to those of literature. For the other timbers we do not have direct measures and therefore, since the timbers are not numerous, data are available in the specialized literature. We believe that inserting literature density values in the existing tables would reduce their readability and would lead to numerous repetitions, while making a new table for timber/density would make it necessary to add a comment in the text.
- Done.
- Our text does not contain those technical typos.
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
It is an interesting and well-prepared manuscript article in my opinion. I have only a few comments and suggestions for possible additions. I present them in a concise form.
Few editing corrections:
Figure 1
A dimensional scale should be added to Figure 1, which shows the floor plan of the cathedral.
Figures 1, 3, and 4
The drawings are blurry and therefore illegible. Their quality should be improved.
The names of the genus of wood are full (correct), but the names of species are not. I suggest that all names of recognized species of wood, both English and Latin names, should be written in accordance with EN 13556:2003 “Round and sawn timber - Nomenclature of timbers used in Europe” (e.g. silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), European walnut (Juglans regia L.), European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) …)
Item [19] in the bibliography (References) was not cited in the text of the manuscript. This should be supplemented.
Substantive comment:
Chapter Discussion
An interesting discussion was held here also in the context of the choice of specific types of wood by the former builders of the roof structure of the cathedral. I propose to consider deepening this analysis in the context of modern knowledge about wood, including its natural durability too e.g. described in the EN 350 standard (EN 350:2016 Durability of wood and wood-based products - Testing and classification of the durability to biological agents of wood and wood-based materials) taking into account the presence of sapwood and its width in different species of wood. Theoretically, the wood of the roof structure is used in a dry protective condition, but due to the different conditions of the roof sheathing over the centuries, it was probably exposed to decay by fungal organisms and especially xylophages.
Yours sincerely
Reviewer
Author Response
It is an interesting and well-prepared manuscript article in my opinion. I have only a few comments and suggestions for possible additions. I present them in a concise form.
Authors want to thank the reviewer for the generous appreciation of our text.
Few editing corrections:
Figure 1
A dimensional scale should be added to Figure 1, which shows the floor plan of the cathedral.
The dimensional scale has been added to Fig. 1
Figures 1, 3, and 4
The drawings are blurry and therefore illegible. Their quality should be improved.
We increased the quality of the pictures and the font dimensions. In our manuscript drawings were not blurry.
The names of the genus of wood are full (correct), but the names of species are not. I suggest that all names of recognized species of wood, both English and Latin names, should be written in accordance with EN 13556:2003 “Round and sawn timber - Nomenclature of timbers used in Europe” (e.g. silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), European walnut (Juglans regia L.), European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) …)
Thanks for this suggestion, names are now correct, authors included.
Item [19] in the bibliography (References) was not cited in the text of the manuscript. This should be supplemented.
Reviewer was right, it had been our forgetfulness, now corrected in the text
Substantive comment:
Chapter Discussion
An interesting discussion was held here also in the context of the choice of specific types of wood by the former builders of the roof structure of the cathedral. I propose to consider deepening this analysis in the context of modern knowledge about wood, including its natural durability too e.g. described in the EN 350 standard (EN 350:2016 Durability of wood and wood-based products - Testing and classification of the durability to biological agents of wood and wood-based materials) taking into account the presence of sapwood and its width in different species of wood. Theoretically, the wood of the roof structure is used in a dry protective condition, but due to the different conditions of the roof sheathing over the centuries, it was probably exposed to decay by fungal organisms and especially xylophages.
We accepted the suggestion and have now added a new text at the end of the debate. The text, to link the topic to that of our manuscript, concerns the relationship between the durability of wooden structures and the natural durability of different woods.
