Monitoring as strategy for planned conservation: the case of Sant’Andrea in Mantova (Mantua)

The synergy between Mantua Diocese, Direzione Regionale per i beni culturali e paesaggistici della Lombardia and Politecnico di Milano enabled the elaboration of a strategic conservation plan for some Mantova buildings of great significance to the city and to the owners: the planning of monitoring activities necessary to the conservation has experienced a further development as regards the structural aspects, after the earthquake, to improve performances vis-a-vis the updated seismic risk level. The collaboration between stakeholder bodies made it possible to systematise the resources needed to access available funds for scheduled conservation and innovative diagnostics over the last decade. The aim is to bring about the necessary conditions for an in depth examination of case studies pretty much representative of local building materials and techniques, for which to identify the best practices for conservation. The networks the bodies belong to permit the dissemination of the results achieved to a vast number of observers, stakeholders, owners, and other local bodies. The paper relates to the diagnostics part, including the innovative techniques employed alongside the more traditional and standardised ones, with a view to drawing up a program of checks and a plan of preventive actions, despite of a limited number of interventions. The monitoring measures and the inspections aim to mitigate some risk factors, among them the (up to now) advanced state of decay of some elements in the oldest buildings, whose maintenance would aggravate the conservation conditions, especially as regards decorated surfaces. Out of the analysed buildings, the case study herein described concerns the Basilica Concattedrale di Sant’Andrea Apostolo in Mantova, a mankind architectural heritage and, obviously, a city monument.