They are close to many things, especially beauty and its preservation. They are still today a company friendly to two wheels, to the UCI, to a sport that we deeply love and that is in the DNA of this company born from the will of Rodolfo Squinzi and exploded thanks to the vision of Giorgio Squinzi and his wife Adriana Spazzoli, today a global reality led by President Laura Squinzi and her grandchildren Veronica and Marco Squinzi, along with Simona Giorgetta: a team that works as a team in perfect Mapei style. Vision and research. One word: quality.

Notre-Dame de Paris has just been inaugurated. An artistic and religious masterpiece, struck by a serious fire on April 15, 2019. Mapei was part of a group of excellence for the recovery of this Gothic beauty among the most visited in the world. Collaborating with the two executing companies Lefèvre and CCR (BALAS group), who won the tenders launched by the public institute Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris, the client entity, the Italian company provided solutions for the restoration of the transept vaults, the two transept arms and the nave (Lefèvre) as well as the choir (CCR).

For this project, Mapei put into practice its most advanced knowledge and skills in the field of structural reinforcement. The vault reconstruction work began during spring 2022, after training masons and stonecutters on the correct use of the solution chosen by Mapei. The work was carried out every day with the utmost respect for the heritage and with the expertise of various experts in the field of historic monument restoration.

With the aim of restoring the situation prior to the fire, a pre-mixed mortar based on natural hydraulic lime (NHL) and Eco-Pozzolana, provided by Mapei and reinforced with fiberglass mesh, was used for the cathedral restoration: a solution specifically developed for the consolidation of historical works, and approved by a team of three architects specialized in historic monuments and project managers: Philippe Villeneuve, Rémi Fromont and Pascal Prunet, with the collaboration, for the structures, of Italian architect Carlo Blasi. The solution proposed by Mapei was the subject of a year of testing, with numerous experiments conducted in the laboratory and in situ, before being definitively approved by the three architects.

"This structural intervention, acting like a true shell, restores the original shape and resistance to masonry vaults," declares Thomas Briac, engineer in charge of work at Lefèvre company, "mitigating the effects of future movements and avoiding fractures in the joints with adjacent reconstructed areas. Resorting to the most innovative technologies is of great help because a heritage project is not for this reason a project out of its time."

"The long experience that Mapei can boast regarding mortars used in restoration and consolidation work was greatly appreciated," declares Carlo Blasi, Consultant for the structural reinforcement work management of Notre Dame Cathedral. "Mapei was able to demonstrate that its materials had been tested, subjected to various tests and also possessed certifications relating to their resistances."