Diagnostics for sustainable conservation of building heritage

The contribution summarizes some diagnostic activities on the religious architectural heritage of the Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1993, performed within the national research project ‘Product and process innovation for planned and preventive maintenance, preservation and restoration of cultural heritage” funded by the Ministry of University and Research in the Smart Cities and Social Innovation program. The research activities have been carried out through the integrated use of laboratory analytical techniques and on-site diagnostic techniques. The experimental activities have been carried out with a multidisciplinary approach in cooperation with the Superintendency of Archaeological and Landscape Heritage of Basilicata, industrial partners, market companies of restoration products and restoration work companies. The activities allowed the characterization of calcarenites and the identification of degradation of the three case studies of San Pietro Barisano, San Francesco d’Assisi and Santa Lucia alle Malve, chosen as representative cases of the vulnerable architectural heritage of the city of Matera. The use of non-invasive and cost-effective diagnostics also enabled the comparative verification of medium and long-term effectiveness between innovative acrylic-urethane resins in aqueous solvent developed by the industrial partner Icap Leather and commonly used consolidating and protective commercial products.