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 A
Pantile ( Coppo in Italian ) is a brick tile with the shape
of a middle trunk of cone, also called channel or channel
tile.
It is placed above the plot of the roof on alternate paths;
the first one with the concavity upward and the second with
the concavity downward, on the first one.
Generally they measure 45-50 cm by 16-20 cm.
The
brick represents one of the oldest material used in the world
of the constructions and the birth of all the elements the
pantile is made of, it comes back to ancient civilizations.
In fact, the origin of these products is mainly tied up to
the need of roofs, to make impermeable terraces, particularly
felt in the damp climates and commonly used in old Egypt and
in the whole Middle East.
Gli
Assiro-Babilonesi, gli Ittiti e i Fenici, per proteggere l'interno
delle abitazioni dagli agenti atmosferici e dall'irraggiamento
solare, ponevano sulle coperture piane delle loro case uno
spesso strato di argilla che veniva successivamente essiccata
dal sole. Una migliore tenuta all'acqua si otteneva posando,
in tempi successivi, anche delle lastre smaltate di terracotta,
fissate con sostanze bituminose che ne sigillavano i giunti.
Greeks
used to set this clay layer above a horizontal wood plot,
with a decreasing thickness to get a certain inclination of
the roof level. The covering and the waterproofing of this
type of roofs were generally realized with terracotta tiles
very similar to our pantiles. From the roof made of clay to
the tiles made in brickwork, the step was short. According
to some accurate studies, the most known and registered models
were:
- The
Asian or normal tile
- The
Belgian or Flemish tile
- The
Flat or Germanic tile
The
normal tile, the most ancient that is known, was also the
more one used in Asia, in Smaller Asia, in Italy and, particularly,
in Sicily, in Spain and in general in all the Countries along
the southern coasts of the Mediterranean. One of the most
important examples of coverage in tile is the roof of the
underground temple of Hera, in Paestum (near Naples, built
in the second halves of the 6th century B.C.), where the tiles
covered a series of plates of limestone.
Around
the ancient Romans, instead, it was used a particular type
of plain tile called embricus, (long around 43 cm and wide
from 25 to 28 cm), tapered in the sense of the length to allow
its overlap the one on the other, while the connection among
adjacent tiles was realized thanks to a channel element, similar
to the pantile, with the concavity turned downward. These
construction products already then, had stamped on the surface
the producer's name, a predecessor method of the modern Mark
of Origin and Quality .We had the greatest development of
the coverage in tile under the Roman empire, during which
semicircular section elements were used to set along the lines
of height.
At
Canterbury, in England, a very unusual ridge has been recovered
that has, in the inferior part of the edges, two openings
for the insertion of the pantiles that they surmounted the
plain tiles of coverage prepared on the strata. In north-western
Europe instead, spread a small size type of tile, (similar
to the flat tile of our days) that it was used in substitution
of the wood-tiles (scandole) too much dangerous in case of
fire.
The
normal type of tile, opportunely modified in the form and
in the dimensions, has continued to be produced and used in
all the Countries of the Mediterranean up to our days. Over
2000 years of life, during which, these tiles have known how
to answer to the more disparate technical and architectural
demands, suiting themselves for the latitudes and the most
different climates to reach us in our days, unchanged in their
characteristic natural brickwork colour, but clearly improved
in the functionality of the form and in the quality of the
performances, thanks to the modern systems of production and
the knowledge made in centuries and centuries of experiences
and testing.
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