Evaluation of accelerated weathering effects on the surface of two coloured sicilian building stones

The dark grey Breccia di Billiemi and the Ammonitico Rosso of Piana degli Albanesi, widely employed outdoor and indoor in monuments in Sicily, undergo significant alteration processes, affecting not only the chromatic aspect but also the state of aggregation. In a previous paper [1] the effects of accelerated weathering in laboratory was compared with natural ageing in the urban environment. The study included the description of lithofacies, the characterisation by means of petrographic and physical-chemical techniques and accelerated weathering experiments on both lithotypes.