Burst terrazzamento

This is a section of one of the many stone terraces on our two hectares of steep hillside. The amount of embodies human labour in these stonewalls is immense and the masonry is amazing. But eventually gravity wins and terraces burst and need repairing.
 
On the face of the terrace is the stone wall and behind this is a mass of relatively clean smaller stone that allows the water to drain out of the terrace without overwhelming the stone wall which is very susceptible to lateral pressure.
 
Just diggingout the fallen stone and the earth that comes tumbling behind it would bring tears to your eyes. Putting it all back together and tying the new wall into the old is a labour of love best accompanied by a minidigger and v skillful operator.
 
So I’m not sure what we will do here. The previous solution was to build the terrace out to a supporting tree trunk that then died. Mortar has been thrown at the stone work but it adds little strength unless laid when the wall was built – the general rule is that these terraces are all dry stone built.

In Italian or Casentino Tuscan terraces are 'terrazzamenti'.