Santa Maria del Fiore Dome behavior: Statistical Models for Monitoring Stability

The paper describes the work in progress about the analysis of the behaviour of the web cracks on the Brunelleschi’s Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The web cracks in the Dome have always given rise to concern about the stability of the monument. The analyses performed show a steady increase in the size of the main cracks and, at the same time, a relationship with the environmental variables. None of the studies presented in the past involves all the variables simultaneously detected by the monitoring system. Understanding the relationships among all the endogenous and exogenous variables characterizing the phenomenon under study would help to predict the static evolution of the monument and to automatically detect any abnormal behaviour, whose identification would, of course, of paramount importance for the preservation of the monument itself.