The masonry vaults of the cellars in the canal system of Livorno

A fascinating, characteristic feature of the Tuscan port city of Livorno is the interconnected system of canals, landings, cellars and warehouses of the buildings in its Venezia Nuova (New Venice) quarter, a main part of the city’s historic center. Within this system, the cellars connected to the Monte Pio ports and the upper warehouses of the Palazzo Monte di Pietà stand out for their importance. This latter 18-century building contains masonry groin vaults on two levels. Each level has thirty spans, some of which have partially or totally collapsed. In view of a reuse project of the building complex, some numerical investigations aiming to check the building structures’ static state and stability have been performed in accordance with current Italian building codes. To this end, the finite element code Mady, which accounts for masonry material’s low tensile strength and limited ability to withstand compressive stress, has been used. Given the widespread presence of vaulted cellars in Livorno, this research can constitute a pilot study to provide highly generalizable information on the "cellar system" of this city and broaden our knowledge of the structural behavior of its components.