Laser Scanning Investigation and Geophysical Monitoring to Characterise Cultural Heritage Current State and Threat by Traffic-Induce Vibrations: The Villa Farnesina in Rome

Abstract

A multidisciplinary approach is often the only way to assess the state of the cultural heritage, thus involving different specialist expertise and techniques. The paper shows the paired use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and geophysical monitoring (GM) to detect past effects and analyse the actual vibration levels induced by traffic on cultural heritage. The case study is the Villa Farnesina, one of the most important Renaissance buildings commissioned by the banker Agostino Chigi. The Villa contains frescoes attributed to Raphael and other famous 16th century artists, and it is located a few meters from the Lungotevere, which is one of the busiest roads in the historic centre of Rome. Testimonies report the damages caused by the construction of the embankment of the Tiber River, as well as by the traffic in the second half of the 20th century, so much so as to require requalification of the road artery. The TLS survey allows for detecting cracks and deteriorations of the frescoes, although these were subjected to restoration activities over the time, whereas the (GM) allows analysing actual vibrations induced by traffic at the different floors and outside the Villa. Although the measured vibration limits, as velocity peaks in defined frequency ranges, are below the thresholds established by international codes, the importance of the wall paintings and their already-shown susceptibility to damage suggest keeping the building under constant monitoring.

Keywords

• terrestrial laser scanning
• geophysical monitoring
• cultural heritage
• traffic-induced vibrations
• Raphael’s frescoes
• Villa Farnesina