Colored tiles for roofs

Colored roofs: an ancient tradition

One of the characteristic elements of a building, or rather of the insertion of a building or of a group of buildings in the surrounding environment, it is obviously the coverage.



Often the shape of the roof, the materials used (generally the most popular locally), their colors and building techniques have become a key feature of a landscape or urban space.
Are famous examples:
- The domes of the churches of the Greek island of Santorini, covered with a plaster of a very intense blue shade, which stands out sharply on the small white houses and typical Mediterranean tones in with the color of the sea;
- The Goldenes Dachldi Innsbruck (literally the Golden Roof), a fifteenth-century loggia in Gothic style covered with a myriad of gilded copper shingles
- The fairytale domes of St. Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square in Moscow.

The materials of these covers are quite varied.
Depending on the chosen style, the wealth of clients, the availability of materials and building culture of the place and period of construction of the building, these bright polichromies, are obtained as follows:

- With a simple coating of plaster, typical of churches of many islands of the Mediterranean (in Forio d'Ischia there is a church with a vibrant yellow dome, while the Church of St. John of the Hermits in Palermo flaunts five red Arab-style domes);

- With metallic foils, as seen in Byzantine style churches with golden domes, or in major medieval churches, Baroque and Renaissance style, whose covers in lead or copper show respectively shades of gray/ blue or green water;

- With colored and glazed tiles of various sizes and types, which often form real pictures, as it is the case in the beautiful roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, formed by thousands of ceramic shingles with very bright colors (white, yellow, black, red, green and blue), placed to form geometric patterns (mainly lozenges and zigzag lines) or even the coat of arms of the Habsburgs.

Of course, the cheapest material, versatile, resistant to wear of time and weather are just the tiles produced in a wide range of shapes and colors by any specialized companies.

Tiles, roof tiles, Marseilles and Portuguese tiles for Mediterranean roofs

Of course, the cheapest material, versatile, resistant to wear and weathering of time it is the glazed brick tiles, produced in a wide range of shapes and colors by some specialized companies, including for example the Italian Ceipo that in its catalog offers tiles, roof tiles, roofing tiles and Portuguese tiles, formed by the union of a roof tile and a flat tile.

In addition to regular sizes, the company also sells special items, such as fittings, half roof tiles and half tiles, tiles for ridges, vents and small chimneys.


This way, you can then create roof coverings according to local building traditions (tiles in Northern and Central Italy, the so-called Roman roof covered with roof tiles and tiles in Lazio and Tuscany, Marseilles or Portuguese tiles in the more modern buildings of coastal areas , etc.), while the wide choice of colors available (two hundred and twenty) allows a virtually unlimited freedom of expression.


In fact, as shown by some of the achievements of the Spanish Company Tejas Borjas, you can achieve:
- solid covers, that is composed of tiles of the same color, getting really special effects, or by choosing the appropriate shades (blue or light blue for coastal areas, green for the countryside or the forested hills, neutral colors for the more arid territories), confusing the building with the landscape;

- Geometric patterns of various types, such as lines, lozenges or zig zag formed with elements of various colors, or vice versa, enhancing the coverage on the long distances, especially if you chose very bright colors such as yellow, white or black.

Shingle for Central European roofs

For the roofs of the Northern Europe (or the northernmost regions of our country such as the Trentino Alto Adige), again the Company Ceipo offers instead the innovative shingles in glazed ceramic, which faithfully reproduce the traditional types, that can still be seen on the roofs of some fine buildings of the nineteenth-century Vienna.


Due to its shape like a flake, to the reduced thickness and the completely flat profile, these shingle are easily stackable and therefore are particularly suitable for domed roofs, typical example of the Art Nouveau, or with a very accentuated inclination.

Moreover, the advantages of glazed brick are numerous; in front of a cost after all easily sustainable, you have a material aesthetically pleasant, durable, weather resistant and cool, which for centuries has been employed to coat the inside of jugs and jars, in order to keep the water at a pleasant temperature also during summer.