Seismic vulnerability and risk reduction interventions for art goods: the bust of Francesco I d'Este in Modena

This paper presents the study of seismic vulnerability of the bust of Francesco I d'Este, housed at the Galleria Estense in “Palazzo dei Musei” in Modena. For this object, some preliminary analyses are performed to assess its safety in terms of rocking and overturning, then conception and design of a specific intervention of seismic risk mitigation is illustrated. The analyses, carried out for the design and verification of the isolation system, lead to the proposal of charts, obtained varying the main parameters involved in the design process. These charts represent a useful tool to support the technical choices that must be made in the design phase, in order to ensure an adequate level of safety, compatible with the needs of a museum exposition conceived for such an important artwork.