Microbial Deterioration of Artistic Tiles from the Façade of the Grande Albergo Ausonia & Hungaria (Venice, Italy)

Abstract

The Grande Albergo Ausonia & Hungaria (Venice Lido, Italy) has an Art Nouveau polychrome ceramic coating on its façade, which was restored in 2007. Soon after the conservation treatment, many tiles of the façade decoration showed coloured alterations putatively attributed to the presence of microbial communities. To confirm the presence of the biological deposit and the stratigraphy of the Hungaria tiles, stereomicroscope, optical and environmental scanning electron microscope observations were made. The characterisation of the microbial community was performed using a PCR-DGGE approach. This study reported the first use of a culture-independent approach to identify the total community present in biodeteriorated artistic tiles. The case study examined here reveals that the coloured alterations on the tiles were mainly due to the presence of cryptoendolithic cyanobacteria. In addition, we proved that the microflora present on the tiles was generally greatly influenced by the environment of the Hungaria hotel. We found several microorganisms related to the alkaline environment, which is in the range of the tile pH, and related to the aquatic environment, the presence of the acrylic resin Paraloid B72® used during the 2007 treatment and the pollutants of the Venice lagoon.

A multiproxy approach to evaluate biocidal treatments on biodeteriorated majolica glazed tiles

“…However, lead is toxic to living organisms and the presence of microbial growth on lead‐rich substrates could be unexpected. Yet, the analyzed tile panel was severely colonized, and other studies have shown that glazes can be colonized by dense biofilms whenever exposed to certain outdoor environments (Giacomucci et al ., ; Coutinho et al ., ). Specific environmental factors, such as cool temperatures, high relative humidity, moderate solar irradiance, shelter from direct rain and surrounding vegetation seem to allow the settlement of microorganisms on ceramic materials (Coutinho et al ., ).…”

“…Nonlichenized pigmented fungi were shown to colonize rock surfaces and restored glazed tiles (Gorbushina et al ., ; Diakumaku et al . ; Pitzurra et al ., ; Gorbushina and Broughton, ; Giacomucci et al ., ; Cutler et al ., ). Giacomucci et al .…”

Microbiological and compositional features of green stains in the glaze of the Portuguese “Great View of Lisbon” tile panel

“…The presence of this fungal genus in tiles has been mentioned before using a similar ''swab'' technique [29]. The obtained superficial contamination patterns could be related with the different environmental conditions as found by Giacomucci et al [7] for the microbial deterioration of artistic tiles, detecting bacteria, eukaryotic algae, and fungi in deteriorated tile samples.…”

“…Dissolution of ceramic matrix constituents tends to increase the capillary porosity of the tiles and consequently renders them more vulnerable to other forms of attack such as frost, wetting, and drying [3][4][5]. Moreover, the colonization of ceramic tiles by microorganisms may contribute to their deterioration [6][7][8].…”

Degradation of nitrocellulose-based paint by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 13541

“…Morphological studies of the film were carried out at different magnifications. To evaluate the D. desulfuricans capability to attach onto the paint surface, a DAPI staining of samples A and B was performed according to Giacomucci et al (2011). Epifluorescence observations were carried out with a Leica DM4000B digital epifluorescence microscope equipped with Cool-Snap CF camera (Photometrics, Roper Scientific) and pictures were acquired using RS Image ver.…”