Special Session 13

SPECIAL SESSION #13

Fabrizio Barone

Università degli Studi di Salerno, Dipartimento di Medicina, Chirurgia e Odontoiatria “Scuola Medica Salernitana”, Italy

• fbarone@unisa.it

Marco Casazza

Università degli Studi di Salerno, Dipartimento di Medicina, Chirurgia e Odontoiatria “Scuola Medica Salernitana”, Italy

• mcasazza@unisa.it

Rosa Fiorillo

Università degli Studi di Salerno, Dipartimento di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale, Italy

• rfiorillo@unisa.it

The approach to cultural heritage has largely changed along the years, evolving to a new multi-disciplinary vision, based on an innovative and synergic interconnection of archaeological, historical, cultural, architectural and environmental elements, synthesis of its tangible and intangible dimensions. This new vision is opening new scenarios in the evaluation of heritage assets, which contribute both at shaping the historical place-related identity on the basis of the urban morphology, architectural styles, buildings techniques and environmental scenarios, and to the well-being of urban dwellers.

Within this framework, mechanical vibrations have a relevant role. In fact, vibrations pervade the lives of human beings with different modality of actions, spanning from earth vibrations (earthquakes), wind blow, water flow in a river, chirping of birds to vibrations generated by or transmitted through material or immaterial artifacts, such as machineries, engineered structures, theatrical and musical performances, human voices. These experiences are characteristic for each space and evolve along time, contributing to the identity both of any landscape and, more generally, of spaces at different scales, ranging from a building, a theatre, a temple, to a square, an urban center, a rural region, a coastline. In the context of archaeology and cultural heritage, the investigation of hard and soft metrology components related to vibratory phenomena, integrating the above-described aspects, pertains to the domain of vibro-acoustics.

Overcoming disciplinary over-specialization and the artificial division of vibrations and acoustic fields in frequency bands, characteristic of recent times, is opening a space for discussing and interpreting archeology and cultural heritage also on the basis of a new comprehensive, multi-disciplinary and metrological vibro-acoustic vision. This special session wishes to be a space for encounter of and discussion for different disciplinary visions and research experiences, aimed at producing a better understanding of needs, current evidences, new interpretations and future perspectives at the crossroad among vibro-acoustics, archaeology and cultural heritage.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Innovative sensors for vibroacoustic monitoring of cultural heritage assets;
• Innovative systems for vibroacoustic monitoring cultural heritage assets;
• Data analysis methodologies and techniques for vibroacoustic characterization of heritage assets;
• Indicators of vibroacoustic quality for specific heritage assets: public spaces, religious spaces, theatres and other performing spaces, music instruments;
• Vibroacoustic landscape characterization for archaeological and other heritage sites;
• Vibroacoustic experimental and theoretical methods for understanding and interpreting archaeological and historical evidence;
• Spatial and temporal representations of vibroacoustic phenomena in the context of cultural heritage assets;
• Vibroacoustic methods for the assessment of the preservation state or damages of heritage assets;
• Integration of hard and soft metrology in vibroacoustics applied to cultural heritage.

Fabrizio Barone, Graduated with honors in Electronic Engineering, PhD in Physics. Full Professor of Applied Physics at the Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry "Scuola Medica Salernitana" of the University of Salerno, founder and scientific coordinator of the Applied Physics Group.
Prof. Barone research and development activity is oriented towards the study of theoretical and experimental methods in applied physics. In this context, his multidisciplinary research focuses on the development of advanced sensors, innovative methodologies and adaptive systems for scientific, health and cultural heritage applications, with a scientific production of more than 600 papers in international refereed journals and in proceedings of international conferences.
His research activity in physics, developed along more than 30 years both in the field of basic and applied research, has also seen his participation in the context of large international scientific projects, among which the interferometric gravitational wave detector VIRGO and the feasibility study of the gravitational observatory Einstein Telescope, for both of which Prof. Barone has been among the proponents. In particular, the experiment VIRGO experiment allowed obtaining scientific results of undisputed scientific value, such as the first detection of gravitational waves and the first detection of black holes. For these discoveries, prof. Barone received several awards, among which the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics 2016 and the Grüber Prize for Cosmology 2016, together with his colleagues.

Marco Casazza, Graduated in physics; Post-graduate diploma in health physics; PhD in Environment, Resources and Sustainable Development. Assistant Professor in Applied Physics at the Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry “Scuola Medica Salernitana”, University of Salerno (Italy). As a visiting scholar, he worked at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Division of Energy Process at KTH (Stockholm, Sweden) (March – May 2015), and, as foreign expert, at the School of Environment, Beijing Normal University (Beijing).
As applied physicist, Marco Casazza research activity is focused on the integration of physical sensors for multi-parametric monitoring in different applied contexts, including environmental physics (especially air quality and hydrogeology) and of tangible and intangible cultural heritage (vibro-acoustics applied to urban and rural landscape; heritage structures and infrastructures; music instruments characterization) and ecology. This experimental area of research is complemented by the development and application of theoretical methods in the domain of physics applied to the environment, medicine and biology. In particular, Marco Casazza research is focused on the representation and quantification of dynamics involving material (i.e.: mass, energy, information) flows.
Marco Casazza was involved in several research projects, funded by European Union, the European Space Agency, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. As a result of his research activities, in year 2017 he received the WEGE Prize finalist team award (Grand Rapids, MI, USA), “for the search of innovative solutions to wicked problems in the environmental field”. Marco Casazza covers the position of associate editor for the journals "Frontiers in Environmental Science", Remote Sensing and Environmental Informatics section, and the journal “Frontiers in Sustainable Cities”, Urban Resource Management section. In addition, he is member of the Editorial Board of "Environmental and Sustainability Indicators" (ELSEVIER).

Rosa Fiorillo, Associate Professor of Christian and Medieval Archeology at the Department of Cultural Heritage Sciences (DISPAC) of the University of Salerno. Rosa Fiorillo took part to several national and international research projects on urban and land use transformations between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, focusing on the archeology of medieval settlements and castles, as well as on archaeological materials, with particular regard to ceramic and glass artefacts. She also worked on nutrition studies linked to archaeozoology and on the study of human skeletal finds. Between 2014 and 2016 she participated in the SNECS and CHIS projects within the High-tech District for Cultural Heritage, focused on San Pietro a Corte and Palazzo Fruscione in Salerno.
Rosa Fiorillo is the scientific director for the archaeological excavations of the Roman villa of Rota (Mercato San Severino, Italy) and of the hypogeum of the Longobard palatine chapel of Arechi II (Salerno, Italy), while engaged also in an interdisciplinary project on the study of the late ancient and medieval phases of the city of Paestum. With the University of Angers and the Service Archeologique Departemental du Maine et Loire, Rosa Fiorillo is involved in the study of mortars, used in sampled high and low medieval buildings, to clarify the evolution of construction methods between the 7th and 15th Centuries in Southern Campania.
Rosa Fiorillo is member of the ICOMOS Italy board of directors and member of the scientific committee of the European University Center of Ravello (SA). Finally, Rosa Fiorillo is member of the Society of Italian Medieval Archaeologists and of the Neapolitan Society of Homeland History .