Structural health monitoring of historical buildings in Italy: applications and uncertainty overview

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is currently more and more considered (and applied) in It- aly for the study of Cultural Heritage (CH) buildings, as a key activity to increase the knowledge on their structural behavior and to have a deeper insight on their actual conditions, reducing uncertainties connected to material properties and structural capacity. In recent years the research group at the University of Padua, in collaboration with public administrations, has installed several SHM systems on heritage structures: two case studies are presented and discussed within this paper. The Arena of Verona and the Cathedral of Conegliano are excellent examples of ongoing monitoring activities, performed through static and dynamic approaches. In parallel to the application of innovative monitoring techniques, statistical models and data processing proce- dures have been developed and applied in order to eliminate uncertainties and exploit monitoring results for an effective assessment and protection of historical constructions.