Ground Penetrating Radar investigation of the floor ofPalazzo Vecchio's Great Hall

- Ground Penetrating Radar is a powerful nondestructive investigation tool widely used in archaeology. This paper reports the radar investigation of the floor of Palazzo Vecchio's Great Hall. In 1555 Cosimo I dei Medici commissioned a monumental fountain that should be collocated in the Great Hall, but the historical sources state that it was never installed in its own collocation. The aim of this radar investigation is to find traces (e.g. a basement or water pipes) under the floor that could support the hypothesis of a temporary collocation of the fountain in the Great Hall. Although the radar detected some interesting features inside and under the floor, no clear evidences of the fountain have been found.