Vulnerability and Preservation of the Historical-Artistic Heritage. The Decoration in the Apse of the ex-Church of San Nicolo, Ferrara

Recently, many approaches have been developed to assess the seismic vulnerability of artistic assets of the historical heritage. The DPCM 9/02/2011 responds to this need by defining a new limit state (Limit State of Damage for Artistic Heritage, SLA) that associates different skills with the definition of risk. The consistency and the state of preservation of artistic assets are often burdensome and difficult to analyse, as subsequent transformations frequently hide these assets. This paper wants to demonstrate how careful use of archival documents and direct observation of artistic techniques and transformation signs can avoid destructive investigations of the artefact and support following quantitative evaluation of the seismic action.