Pulvino

A pulvino (or impost block) is an architectural structural element (dosseret) having the shape of an inverted pyramid cushion, which is placed between the column capital and the arch base.

An example can be seen in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence designed by Filippo Brunelleschi around 1420.

There he resorted to additional segments of entablature improperly defined as "Brunelleschian nut".

The pulvino in this case created a balanced entablature, on which the round arches are set.

By analogy with the static function of the pulvino on a column, it is also attributed to certain structural elements that have the function of distributing a load from a superimposed structure with higher mechanical resistance characteristics, to a lower structure with lower specific resistance and, therefore, dimensioned in such a way as to reduce the unitary stresses to admissible values.