Building stones, particularly marble and granite, are very important in the building elements of Word's historical and cultural heritage. 

Experimental research, based on uniaxial compressive tests, was carried out on selected representative samples of lithotypes of rocks used in historic built heritage, with a view to evaluating the compressive mechanical behaviour of different building stones.

The results showed that porosity plays a central role in the compressive behaviour of granites and marbles. As porosity can be evaluated in field conditions with non-destructive tests it was decided to derive an analytical model to predict compressive behaviour based on the knowledge of porosity of the building stones