Structural Identification of Giovanni Pisano’s Pulpit in Pistoia

In 1301 Giovanni Pisano sculpted a new pulpit for the church of Sant’Andrea in Pistoia (Italy). It was built hexagonally in shape and divided, in elevation, into three tiers: the columns and the base; the arches, and the para-pet. The pulpit is supported by seven columns that are connected to its base by a system of pointed arches. Four of these columns stand on white marble plinths at different heights, two of which are in the shape of a lion, a central one depicting an eagle, a griffon, and a winged lion, and a fourth with Adam in the guise of Altlante. The pulpit is about 4 m high, and the diameter of the hexagon is about 2 m. Around 1619 it was relocated to the middle of the nave on the left side of the church, where currently is. Restorations have taken place over time, including, in the 19th century, structural work carried out with the insertion of iron brackets and the addition of stone in some areas where it was missing due to deteriora-tion occurring over time. In order to promote the conservation activity to preserve this masterpiece against static and seismic actions, a Structural Health Monitor-ing (SHM) system was placed on the pulpit at the beginning of 2022. This paper proposes a comparison of different computational models to critically discuss the static and seismic vulnerability of one of the most outstanding marble artifacts of the late Middle Ages in Italy