In all preventive conservation activities, the characterisation of the environment the works are kept in plays a very important role. Indeed, many of the causes of degradation can be traced back to unsuitable environmental parameters. The Centro develops specific monitoring programs on a case-by-case basis, which consider the particular conformation of certain sites, such as the historical residences, where it is not always possible to guarantee, for example, wireless data transmission for monitoring systems.
The scientific laboratories conduct thermo-hygrometric monitoring operations in many of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, including the Reggia di Venaria, the Palazzina di Caccia of Stupinigi and the Castle of Racconigi. A monitoring program has been developed for each of these residences, frequently supplemented with information obtained from periodic surveys conducted by the restorers.
A collaboration has been established recently with the National Museum of Cinema for thermo-hygrometric monitoring of the exhibition spaces at the Mole Antonelliana and the archives distributed throughout the province of Turin. The monitoring system itself consists of sensors connected to a WiFi network, permitting remote control of the various parameters.
Starting out from the case study of the Church of Santi Giovanni Battista and Pietro in Avigliana, and thanks to the contribution of the Compagnia San Paolo, the Scientific Laboratories are developing new data collection and analysis systems for the ‘wider heritage’. A number of the churches in the Piedmontese diocese have been selected as case studies and test sites for these systems.