Protection of art works to blast hazard: The Fountain of Neptune in Florence

Art goods have fundamental role in the cultural and economic asset of communities. Their protection, therefore, is a fundamental goal. Most part of artifacts are conserved in Museums, which are in charge of their maintenance and their exposure. Despite such protection, however, acts of vandalism can occur, threatening the integrity of the items. Their vulnerability to vandalic attacks increases for art goods with an outdoor location, since in this case they can hardly be guarded. In this work the protection of artifacts to blast actions has been checked on the Fountain of Neptune, located in “Piazza della Signoria”, in Florence. The dynamic response of the statue of Neptune to blast has been checked by performing a Finite Element analysis, and by considering a simplified equivalent load. A special attention has been paid to the limit capacity of the case-study and to the restraint to assume at the sculpture base.