Protection of art works to blast hazards: the Fountain of Neptune in Florence

Art works have a fundamental role in the cultural and economic status of communities. Their protection, therefore, is a fundamental goal. For the most part, artefacts are conserved in museums, which oversee their maintenance and exposure. Despite such protection, however, acts of vandalism can occur, threatening the integrity of the art works. Art works with an outdoor location are at increased risk of vandalism since they cannot be highly guarded. In this work, the protection of art works to blast hazards was checked for the Fountain of Neptune located in the 'Piazza della Signoria' in Florence. The dynamic response of the statue of Neptune to a blast was checked by performing a finite element (FE) analysis and by considering a simplified equivalent load. Special attention was paid to the limit capacity of the case study and the assumed restraint at the sculpture base.