Pure cordierite and cordierite-zirconia (5 and 15 mol.%) are prepared by an aqueous sol-gel technique starting from aqueous solutions of magnesium formate, aluminium formate, zirconium formate and tetraethoxysilane. The gels are dried and calcined at different temperatures ranging from 600 to 1300 °C. The dried gels and calcined powders are characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, X-ray powder diffraction and infrared spectroscopic analysis.