The cornerstone of the project is to establish an international research center having expertise in the field of stereotomy and stone construction; it will have seat in the province of Ragusa and a branch in Malta with complementary functions. The center will be an attractor for researchers and professionals of the stone sector throughout the Mediterranean and it will work as a collector for the studies conducted, managing several scientific and educational activities. The permanent laboratory: The center will be equipped with a laboratory specialized in the physical and mechanical properties of the stone and in the diagnostics of its degradation; The specialty library: The research center will have a library containing all the sources on stereotomy; in addition the fund will be supplemented with detailed texts on the use of stone in contemporary architecture and restoration; -The museum of history and technology: The research center will contain the first Sicilian museum of stereotomy, containing exemplificative architecture items and artifacts of on the use of stone. -Training and dissemination of knowledge: Creation of operators specialized in recovering the traditional techniques of stone working and designing a new sustainable architecture.Punto cardine del progetto è listituzione di un centro internazionale di ricerca che avrà competenze specialistiche nel campo della stereotomia e dei materiali lapidei da costruzione; esso avrà sede nel territorio della Provincia di Ragusa e una sezione distaccata a Malta, con funzioni complementari. Il centro farà da attrattore per studiosi e operatori del settore lapideo attivi nellintero bacino del Mediterraneo, fungerà da collettore delle indagini svolte sul campo e gestirà varie attività scientifiche e divulgative. -Il laboratorio permanente: Il centro sarà dotato di un laboratorio specializzato nella conoscenza delle caratteristiche fisico-meccaniche della pietra e della diagnostica del suo degrado -La biblioteca specialistica:Il centro di ricerca sarà dotato di una biblioteca con tutte le fonti sulla stereotomia; inoltre il fondo sarà integrato con testi di approfondimento sulluso della pietra nel restauro e nellarchitettura contemporanea. -Il museo della storia e della tecnica:Il centro di ricerca conterrà al suo interno il primo museo siciliano delle stereotomia, dove verranno esposti esempi e reperti di architetture esemplificative per luso della pietra -La formazione e la diffusione della conoscenza: Al fine di creare operatori specializzati nel recupero delle tecniche tradizionali della lavorazione della pietra e nel progetto di nuove architetture con elevata Achievements: The LITHOS project has created an international research centre for stereotomy and stone materials in the Ragusa Province with a department on Malta. The Sicilian centre is housed in Palazzo La Rocca, one of the eighteen UNESCO heritage sites in the Ragusa Province. Today the centre houses a specialist library with several manuscripts and prints on stereotomy (in original or in copy for the rarer An area has been reserved as a museum of stereotomy, the fi rst in Sicily, where drawings, mouldings, models, fragments and iconographic architectural remains exemplifying the use of stone are exhibited. The project has also set up a research laboratory specialized in understanding the physical-mechanical characteristics of stone and in the diagnosis of the degradation it is subject to. The expertise of the laboratory personnel and the acquired instrumentation has enabled the exchange and transfer of competence with Maltese masons and apprentices involved in the restoration of one of the façades of the Inquisitors Palace in Birgu, in which the stereotomy techniques studied within the LITHOS project were put into practice. The centre is an important attraction for scholars and all those working in the fi eld of stone, it will act as a collector of investigative fi eld work and promote scientific and disseminative activity, thanks also to a network connecting it to other research centres in Europe and the Mediterranean. • 2 Research Centres in Ragusa and Malta • 1 Research Laboratory • 1 Specialist Library • 1 Museum of Stereotomy