L’oratorio della Madonna del Vivaio a Scarperia, Firenze. Il problema del cedimento del suolo e gli interventi di restauro

The architect Alessandro Galilei carried out the project of the Madonna del Vivaio on behalf of Gian Gastone, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany of the Medici dynasty. The building is characterised by a circular plan with a stretch of straight wall in the entrance side, while in the opposite one and in the transverse axis there are rectangular rooms, the apse and two chapels. The construction works of the Oratory were made in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Because of the structural problems linked to the instability of the ground in which the Oratory stood, since 1832 first reports were drawn up. They formulated the first diagnosis, but the cracks later continued and a number of interventions were still needed, up to those of recent years that finally appear to be effective. The paper examines the long period in which the structural problems of the Oratory occurred and the numerous restorations performed on several occasions. It highlights how, within a very complex issue such as the instability of the ground, the approach to the restoration of the Oratory of the Madonna del Vivaio over time has evolved through a more detailed and consistent relationship between assessment, diagnosis and intervention.