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This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer
Mar 11, 2023 15:53
1 yr ago
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Italian term

picottatura

Italian to English Art/Literary Architecture
Durante le operazioni di descialbo, è stato rinvenuto in più punti un’antico strato di intonaco, con larghe picottature, steso direttamente sulla pietra.

From a description of restoration work on a monastery. I believe this is to do with the small holes chipped into walls (and frescoes) before they were plastered over but I may be wrong and in any case I cannot find the word for this in English.

Thanks in advance.
Proposed translations (English)
5 picottaura
4 Staking/ pegging/ marking

Discussion

P.L.F. Persio Mar 12, 2023:
@Emmanuella: È un piacere avere a che fare con persone competenti e cortesi come te. Buona domenica a tutt*!
Emmanuella Mar 11, 2023:
@ P.L.F Persio - Grazie per l'apprezzamento!
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Yes, that's definitely what it is and hammer tapping might do, actually, in the absence of a technical term. Thanks!
P.L.F. Persio Mar 11, 2023:
Following Emmanuella's brilliant lead: I found this: https://www.ndt.net/article/qirt2014/papers/QIRT-2014-109.pd... Multiple “picchiettature” (marks of hammer tapping) are present, denoting that another fresco layer
that had been placed over the current fresco had been removed in the past.
P.L.F. Persio Mar 11, 2023:
Let us know when you find it!
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Yes same here PLF but I think the words Emmanuela found, such as pichiettature, etc. are synonyms and there are plenty of references to these, just not with English translations. Thank you, and everyone else, for all your help.
Emmanuella Mar 11, 2023:
You're welcome.
P.L.F. Persio Mar 11, 2023:
Yes, Isabelle, I'm aware of that, but the only occurence for picottatura I managed to find online is this one: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1178357699/vintage-singer-hemst... I can't find the term in my monolingual dictionaries, therefore I think it's a French word, like picotée in some flowers, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picotee. So far, different contexts from yours, I know.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Hello again Emmanuella I'm not sure whether this is the same thing or not but indentations may indeed be an option if no specific term emerges. Thanks very much for all your research.
Emmanuella Mar 11, 2023:
Scrape indentations ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresco
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Thanks for picoting PLF! But this too seems to come from a different context.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Thanks very much Marco That was useful. None of the answers are very convincing, though, in this context.
P.L.F. Persio Mar 11, 2023:
@Isabelle: picoting, maybe? Hi Isabelle, I think it could probably come from French picotage. As you can here https://artlandia.com/wonderland/glossary/Picotage.html and here https://www.thefreedictionary.com/picoting, the context is textile, but it chimes with your "small holes". Good luck!
Marco Solinas Mar 11, 2023:
To asker Sorry Isabelle, here it is: https://www.proz.com/kudoz/italian-to-english/art-arts-craft...
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Hello Marco Was there a link?
Marco Solinas Mar 11, 2023:
To asker Have you seen this? Does it help?
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Thanks very much Even with all these different spellings I still can't find an English word for it.
Emmanuella Mar 11, 2023:
No idea , unfortunately. I'm still checking.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Mar 11, 2023:
Thanks Emmanuella That's definitely it. Any idea of how to say it in English?
Emmanuella Mar 11, 2023:
Forse
https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/picchiettatura/
https://wanderbeach.com/2021/08/03/abbazia-di-santa-maria-di...

Proposed translations

21 mins

Staking/ pegging/ marking

During the clean-up, an old layer of plaster, with large pits, was found in several places, laid directly on top of the stone (walls).

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Note added at 1 hr (2023-03-11 17:25:50 GMT)
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Hello Isabelle- what words have you found then?
Note from asker:
Hello Andrew. Thanks for this. I can't find any examples of these words in this context, though.
I haven't found any!! That's the problem.
Something went wrong...
14 hrs

picottaura

"small holes chipped into walls (and frescoes) before they were plastered over"... this is exactly the meaning. The purpose is to ensure good adhesion of the new plaster coat over the old. Search "picconatura affresco intonaco" to find various references. Insist picconatura and not "spicconatura", which is perhaps more a term of modern construction, a rougher kind of work, more demolition). Figure 9.1 in link "squarespace" offers a good example. A typical dimension of the holes is up to about 5 cm. Images in "artepiu" offer examples of many variations, unfortunately in very poor resolution. There is no known equivalent term in English; with my authors, we choose to leave it in Italian, with a footnote or (word of explanation). The pits are not "large", maybe "relatively large". The effect is more of "roughened surface", "surface roughened with many smill pits", rather than concentrating on the "pits" themselves. Here saying "large" would mean large in the scale of picconatura, which would prob. mean 5, 6, 7 cm. diam. The link provided by Persio of Netherlands is useful, but not a high-quality translation, not by mother-tongue English with technical knowledge.


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Note added at 14 hrs (2023-03-12 06:41:57 GMT)
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Sorry, misspelling ... picottatura.
Example sentence:

During the process of lime-wash removal, an older layer of plaster was found, applied directly to the rock, showing quite large signs of piccotatura (holes made by pick, roughening the surface).

Reference:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57e64d23d482e9a8f586b7d2/t/5e9da22e0feebf4d487831bb/1587389024194/relazione+saggi+palazzo+ottolenghi.

https://artepiu.info/santa-maria-antiqua-affreschi/

Note from asker:
Hello and thanks for this. But it is indeed very confusing and I can't find any reference to any of these various spellings online at all.
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : This is very confusing. Is it picottatura or picconatura?
59 mins
Something went wrong...
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