The dome of Basilica of San Lorenzo in Milano: a comparison between modern and ancient mathematical models.

In the present paper the dome of Basilica of San Lorenzo in Milano is studied. First of all a brief historic excursus is made on the basis of the ancient and the recent documents, referring also to the calculations made in the XVI and XVIII centuries. The analysis develops a Finite Element model starting from a recent large scale geometric survey. The results obtained from the automatic calculations are compared with the old ones, especially with regard to the global stability problem, and with the actual state of conservation.