Fragmentary painting, starting from recent years, after being treated for long time exclusively from a stylistic point of view, has entered into the broader material culture’s theme. In this new perspective, this material has assumed a growing dignity as a source of architectural, structural, social and economic information, opening up new perspectives that are currently being adopted also in Italy. For fragments filing there are some wellestablished protocols, however less attention has been devoted to discuss detection methods and graphic documentation standards for this class of material. This paper, albeit with a limited number of cases compared to what would require the vast topic, proposes, through the analysis of three groups of material, to illustrate and compare relevant techniques and methodologies, including photogrammetry, laser scanning and microscopic photogrammetry, in order to identify good practices and solicit a hoped for broader discussion.

The cultural heritage of Maredolce (Palermo) includes an Arab-Norman castle that originally stood on the shores of an artificial lake carved out of a basin dug out of the calcarenite and filled with water thanks to the channeling of the springs of San Ciro upstream. Subsequently, the lowering of the water table and the high hydraulic permeability of the outcropping rocks caused the lake to dry up. Recently, a project of enhancement of the cultural heritage required the restoration of the lake. The geophysical study presented here, including the integrated use of different techniques such as electrical and seismic tomography, Multichannel Analysis of the Surface Waves and ambient vibration recording, supported by aerial photogrammetry, is aimed at the reconstruction of the hydrogeological and geotechnical model of the subsoil of the ancient lake.

This paper deals with a geophysical experimental activity carried out in the Maxentius Complex, an archaeological site located in Rome, Italy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of GPR for the structural detailing of buried roman baths structures. As a result, GPR allowed to confirm the literature-based information, i.e. to precisely locate the tanks of the thermal area. Their presents was already known through previous excavation then buried and no more visible. In addition, the tomographic analysis highlighted the presence of two further tanks, thereby suggesting the possibility of further rooms to be located close to the known ones. This assumption was also confirmed by tomographic analysis, which stressed out a wall pattern that seems to suggest the presence of further rooms in the top-right side of the area. In general terms, GPR demonstrated a great applicability to archaeological purposes, despite the reliability and productivity of the data interpretation are strongly influenced by the expertise of both the geophysicists and the archaeologists involved.

In this work, mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imaging techniques are applied to the study of three XVII century paintings on canvas preserved at the Chigi Palace in Ariccia. In particular, an integrated approach based on the use of pulsed thermography (PT) and MWIR reflectography (MIRR) is proposed for the analysis of the Primavera by Filippo Lauri e Mario Nuzzi, the Ritratto di Mario Nuzzi che dipinge un vaso di fiori by Giovanni Maria Morandi and Mario Nuzzi and the Ebbrezza di Noè by Andrea Sacchi. It is shown how the combined use of these techniques enables to perform the depthresolved characterization of the analysed paintings, revealing complementary information on both subsurface graphical features, such as pentimenti, and structural elements.

Monitoring water content in cultural heritage materials through non-invasive and easy-touse TDR/TDT (time-domain reflectometry / timedomain transmission) measurement systems has the potential to enhance conservation/restoration activities. In this study, two different probes for TDR/TDT technology, Square Patch Resonator (SPR) and Split Ring Resonator (SRR), were compared. The two probes were tested on two different materials (leccese and gentile stone), each one of them at three different levels of water content. All tests were conducted ten times with two different external impressed forces (hand pressure and 2 kg). Resonant frequencies (fr), fractional bandwidth (FBW), and standard deviation (σ) were evaluated to assess accuracy and repeatability in water content estimation. Results revealed optimum performance, FBW lower than 7 % and higher repeatability (σ < 5 MHz) with external mass, for the SRR probe. Our results reveal the possibility of monitoring the moisture level in the stone through a microwave tool based on a split ring and TDT device.