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The paper presents a combination of geophysics technologies and spatial analysis methods for the analysis of an improper geographical space: the frescoe of the east wall at the Gymnasium (Pompei). This allows to construct a decay map and to quantify decay patterns found as a first step for restauration, protection and mitigation of the risk that involves the frescoe.

“Engineering structures are designed to be safe. The difficulty one trading in this regard is the desire to construct something for a specific purpose out of a material of which one can never know enough in terms of the material’s properties as well as the environment the structure is going to operate in”. Even though this affirmation was initially drawn for modern structures, it however firmly describes the situation of the ancient ones. In the case of ancient monuments, the mechanical properties of the construction materials, their consistency and their homogeneity are highly unknown and can only be determined probabilistically through elaborate testing under legislative and protective to the monuments’ restrictions. On the other hand, the environmental (weather) conditions and natural hazards to which those ancient masonry structures were and still are exposed is even more difficult to be determined with precision and thus monitored, but has certainly led to their degradation. Towards this end, the present study discusses the potentialities of non-destructive passive and remote system investigations of monuments, trying to examine the benefits and drawbacks in relation to the result and in comparison to conventional structural control methods. A selection of the most credible methods for the investigation of monuments is described along with their potential applications. The scope of this investigation is to acquire information regarding the subsurface condition and consequently the structural system of the monument and anticipate its future behavior in destructive earthquake events. This can be achieved through a simulation model, which can be as realistic as the information obtained and can be updated with more thorough information. To demonstrate the application of this updating process in obtaining the response of the monument, a case study tomb “Tomb 4” from the Hellenistic necropolis of the ‘Tombs of the Kings’, in Paphos Cyprus is examined, recapitalizing thus previous work of the team accomplished on the aforementioned monument. The seismic performance of the monument, located in a moderate earthquake hazard area, will be examined based on passive and remote data acquisition and simulation results will be shown.

This paper presents some of the outcomes of an on-going Horizon 2020 Twinning project, under the acronym ATHENA. The project aims to establish a “Remote Sensing Science Center for Cultural Heritage” in Cyprus. The Center foresees to support the current Cultural Heritage (CH) needs through the systematic exploitation of Earth Observation technologies. For the establishment of the center, the existing Remote Sensing and Geo-Environment Research Laboratory of the Eratosthenes Research Center (ERC) based at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), is twinned with internationally-leading counterparts from the EU, the National Research Council of Italy (CNR, through IMAA and IBAM) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Through this network, the ATHENA twinning project strengthens the remote sensing capacity in cultural heritage at CUT’s ERC.

The project aims to establish a “Remote Sensing Science Center for Cultural Heritage” in Cyprus. The Center foresees to support the current Cultural Heritage (CH) needs through the systematic exploitation of Earth Observation technologies. For the establishment of the center, the existing Remote Sensing and Geo-Environment Research Laboratory of the Eratosthenes Research Center (ERC) based at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), is twinned with internationally-leading counterparts from the EU, the National Research Council of Italy (CNR, through IMAA and IBAM) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Through this network, the ATHENA twinning project strengthens the remote sensing capacity in cultural heritage at CUT’s ERC. The ATHENA project aim is knowledge transfer, achieved primarily through intense training activities (including virtual training courses, workshops and summer schools) with an ultimate scope to enhance the scientific profile of the research staff and to accelerate the development of research capabilities of the ERC as well as to promote Earth Observation knowledge and best practices intended for Cultural Heritage. The scientific strengthening and networking achieved in Cyprus through the ATHENA project, could be of great benefit for the entire Eastern Mediterranean Region bearing a plethora of archaeological sites and monuments urgently calling for monitoring and safeguarding.

This paper presents the main outcomes of the on-going Horizon 2020 ATHENA Twinning project, which aims to establish a “Remote Sensing Science Center for Cultural Heritage” in Cyprus. The Center foresees to support the current cultural heritage needs through the systematic exploitation of earth observation technologies. For the establishment of the center, the existing Remote Sensing and Geo-Environment Research Laboratory- of the Eratosthenes Research Center (ERC) based at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), is twinned with internationally-leading counterparts from the EU, the National Research Council of Italy (CNR, through IMAA and IBAM) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Through this networking, the ATHENA twinning project strengthens the remote sensing capacity in cultural heritage at CUT’s ERC. A core element within ATHENA is knowledge transfer, achieved primarily through intense training activities (including virtual training courses, workshops and summer schools) with an ultimate scope to: enhance the scientific profile of the research staff; to accelerate the development of research capabilities of the ERC as well as to promote earth observation knowledge and best practices intended for Cultural Heritage. Active and passive remote sensing data for archaeology, SAR for change and deformation detection, satellite monitoring for archaeological looting, integration of remote sensing data for protection and preservation of cultural heritage are also presented. The scientific strengthening and networking achieved in Cyprus through the ATHENA project, could be of great benefit for the entire Eastern Mediterranean Region bearing a plethora of archaeological sites and monuments urgently calling for monitoring and safeguarding.

Ground-penetrating radar has been increasingly played an important role over the last 15 years in Italy due to its high reliability in assisting the assessment of the built environment for civil engineering purposes, and in being used for geophysical investigations within many other fields of application. In line with this, original works involving fundamental aspects of this technique and implementing its use more practically in a number of interesting projects have been developed over years, both under a research and an enterprise point of view. This paper will endeavour to review the current status of ground-penetrating radar activities in Italy. Efforts have been devoted to single out the most interesting national research projects, both recent and ongoing, involving ground-penetrating radar in Italy, such as the ARCHEO project in the 90s, funded by the Italian Ministry for Universities, wherein a stepped frequency ultra-wide band radar suited for archaeological surveys was manufactured. In this framework, it is worth citing another important and more recent project, European Community funded, namely, ORFEUS, which started in the late 2006 with the overall aim of providing the capability to locate buried infrastructure accurately and reliably by means of a bore-head ground-penetrating radar for horizontal directional drilling. A review on the main use of this non-destructive technique in management activities of national resources and infrastructures has been also performed, ranging from the applications made by Anas S.p.A., i.e. the main management authority for the Italian road and motorway network, up to private enterprises specialized in both services providing and ground-penetrating radar manufacturing such as, to cite a few, Sineco S.p.A. and IDS Ingegneria dei Sistemi S.p.A., respectively. Current national guidelines, rules or protocols to be followed during radar surveys have been also reviewed. Unlike well-established international standards such as the ASTM D 4748-98 and the ASTM D 6432-99 dealing with, respectively, thicknesses evaluation of bound layers in road pavements, and equipment, field procedures and data-interpretation for the electromagnetic evaluation of subsurface materials, it has to be noted that the Italian body of laws and rules tackles the ground-penetrating radar applications under an indirect and partial approach. Despite of such situation, national guidelines concerning utilities-detection activities as well as other theoretical and practical guidelines established by the major Italian private enterprises on this field can be also considered highly relevant. Moreover, a further focus on the activities and main devices of the major Italian ground-penetrating radar manufacturers have been thoroughly described. Under a research and innovation perspective, the most important test sites, such as the site of the University of Salento to reconstruct archaeological and urban subsurface scenarios have been listed along with the main advances reached in integrating ground-penetrating radar with other non-destructive techniques, to inform and potentially improve the possibility of new developments and collaborations.

Le attività di conservazione del patrimonio costruito hanno un necessario presupposto nella conoscenza delle caratteristiche dei materiali costituenti e del loro stato di conservazione, attraverso cui possono essere individuati fattori e condizioni di rischio, nonché necessità di intervento, sulla base della quale impostare le più efficaci strategie di intervento ed effettuare la scelta delle più idonee soluzioni conservative. In tal senso, all'interno dei laboratori di diagnostica e conservazione, l'IBAM ha sviluppato nel corso degli anni un'attività di studio delle cause e dei meccanismi di degrado di diversi materiali lapidei dell'edilizia storica, utilizzati in contesti affini nell'ambito del bacino del Mediterraneo, e quello degli interventi per la loro conservazione. L'attività diagnostica ha affrontato numerosi casi di studio relativi a manufatti del patrimonio storico-architettonico ed archeologico (Teatro Petruzzelli e Cattedrale di Bari, Basilica di S. Croce a Lecce, Cattedrale di Altamura), all'interno dei quali metodologie integrate in situ (tecniche soniche ed ultrasoniche, fluorescenza di Raggi X, prove penetrometriche e rebound test) ed in laboratorio (tecniche di microscopia ottica ed elettronica, diffrattometria di Raggi X, cromatografia ionica, spettroscopia e microscopia infrarossa in trasformata di Fourier, termogravimetria, porosimetria a mercurio) sono state impiegate per l'ottimizzazione dei dati diagnostici, per la ricerca di correlazioni tra prove in situ ed in laboratorio, per la definizione delle più efficaci procedure diagnostiche. Particolare attenzione è stata volta all'uso di prove non distruttive in situ e alle analisi di laboratorio a bassa distruttività, quali quelle basate sulla tecnologia ESEM (Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy). Parallelamente è stato sviluppato lo studio di durabilità dei materiali lapidei volto alla individuazione di parametri di correlazione fra caratteristiche intrinseche e comportamento in opera. Esso è stato svolto attraverso la caratterizzazione mineralogica, petrofisica, geochimica e meccanica dei materiali di cava, con particolare riferimento alla ricerca di correlazioni tra natura dei costituenti mineralogici, caratteristiche porosimetriche, meccanismi di assorbimento dell'acqua e trasferimento delle sollecitazioni meccaniche, e processi di artificial ageing attraverso cicli di cristallizzazione salina. In relazione allo studio degli interventi conservativi l'IBAM ha condotto nel corso degli anni la sperimentazione di trattamenti per la conservazione dei materiali lapidei del costruito storico-architettonico ed archeologico volta alla valutazione delle prestazioni di prodotti per la conservazione ed il restauro e alla messa a punto di procedure di intervento in relazione ai prodotti e ai substrati di applicazione. Particolare attenzione è stata indirizzata alle problematiche conservative delle pietre tenere ad elevata porosità e alla verifica delle potenzialità applicative di prodotti sperimentali innovativi, quali quelli nanostrutturati (titania fotocatalitica, nanosilice, etc.), nonché di quelli a basso impatto ambientale, quali dispersioni in soluzione acquosa, alla funzionalizzazione di malte da restauro con titania nanofasica. è stata inoltre sviluppata un'attività di studio degli esiti dei trattamenti conservativi nelle reali condizioni d'opera, attraverso il monitoraggio in situ degli interventi realizzati in passato su manufatti del Barocco leccese. Le attività di diagnostica e conservazione descritte sono contraddistinte da una forte connotazione multidisciplinare e nel corso degli anni hanno trovato spazio all'interno di progetti di ricerca con finanziamenti esterni, realizzando collaborazioni e partenariati sia con altri Istituti di ricerca che con il mondo imprenditoriale, in particolare PMI. Esse vengono inoltre correntemente svolte attraverso servizi e consulenze alle Soprintendenze, agli enti locali, alle imprese e ai progettisti del restauro.