The Complex of the Galleria dell’Accademia of Florence: keeping in safety

Abstract In the last decades, several earthquakes occurred in Italy and the sensitivity of people regarding the seismic vulnerability is increased. In Italy, most part of buildings is “historical”, i.e. made before the last century, and there is a large amount of outstanding architectural, historical and artistic heritage. Such buildings sometimes represent the container of works of art and sometimes they are works of artistic value themselves. In most cases, historical and monumental buildings have been made in the total absence of seismic regulations, and they can evidence a high level of exposure, as a result of their artistic interest. In about 20 years (1997-2017), earthquakes with a magnitude between 5.8 ML scale and 6.5 Mw scale have affected Umbria, Marche, Emilia Romagna, Abruzzo and Central Italy causing not only loss of life but also damage to the historical and cultural heritage. Focusing attention in the Florentine area, it historically appears to be the site of moderate seismic activity that has led to local earthquakes with Imax VIII degree on the Mercalli scale (ML). The current work describes a comprehensive analysis of the seismic vulnerability of the Complex of the “Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze”, where several art works are exhibited, such as the Michelangelo’s David. The aim of the study is to preserve the building from seismic events. The work involved a diagnostic campaign for the evaluation of the mechanical properties of the Complex. These tests were followed by safety checks as required by the Italian Code DM 14 January 2008 and by the specific Guide-Lines (GL) issued by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (MIBACT) to evaluate and reduce seismic risk of cultural heritage (MIBACT 2010). All the three levels of evaluation provided by the GL have been developed, following a rigorous knowledge path that allowed to reach an exhaustive assessment of the seismic performance of the complex.