Abstract: “The study analyses the mechanical properties of the mortar samples collected from the surviving heritage masonry structures in eastern Sicily. The chemical attack was used to determine their composition: extracted purely lime-based binder mortars differ in the sand used according to the ancient recipe. Thus, new mortar samples were constructed to match those collected from the historical buildings. Their mechanical characteristic are, so, determined firstly at 30-60 days of curing and then after very long time of curing (20 years). More than 200 samples were tested under bending and compression. The data were compared each other in order to evaluate the time influence on the mechanical propierties.”

Keywords: mortar, mechanical characterization, tests, masonry, ancient buildings