Special Session 11

SPECIAL SESSION #11

Vittoria Guglielmi

Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

• vittoria.guglielmi@unimi.it

Alessio Carullo

Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

• alessio.carullo@polito.it

In the last decades, instrumental analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies, X-ray fluorescence, fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy, in addition to electrochemical methods have been successfully applied to the fields of art, art-history, archaeology, conservation, restoration, environmental monitoring and forensic studies.

The research in this field has hugely increased thanks to the availability of new instruments, especially portable ones which are suitable for non-destructive and/or in situ measurements. Moreover, the improvement in information technology and data processing made available even more advanced spectroscopic-based imaging methods.

The combination of such a wide range of different analytical techniques is mandatory to the deeper knowledge of the studied objects, their environmental conditions, and the possible occurrence of degradation processes, thus confirming the importance of a multi-technique and multi-disciplinary approach.

It is a matter of fact that in this context, the availability of a massive amount of information pushes towards the use of effective advanced data analysis methods. Examples of these methods include principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLS) regression and supervised and unsupervised classification algorithms.

The Special Session welcomes contributions that deal with the application of the newest data analysis techniques to the solution of complex analytical concerns related to cultural heritage and environmental issues.

The topics include, but are not limited to:

• Characterisation of ancient and contemporary artistic materials: pigments, inks, dyes, gemstones, stones, glass, ceramics;
• Applications in palaeontology, paleoenvironment and archaeology: organic and biological residues, bones, lithic materials, handmade tools and artworks;
• Studies concerning the synthesis of artistic materials and their use in the making of works of art, including old and modern masters’ techniques;
• Studies related to the vicious interactions between artworks and environment and possible solutions: products of degradation, corrosion processes, restoration and protection methodologies;
• Forensic applications, such as forensic archaeology and authentication/dating procedures.

Vittoria Guglielmi is Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry, SSD CHIM 12 – Chemistry for the environment and for cultural heritage - at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Milan. She obtained her Master's Degree in Chemistry from the University of Milan and her PhD in Chemical Sciences from the same University. The research activity of Vittoria Guglielmi has been devoted to the implementation of analytical methods via instrumentation, mainly employing spectroscopic techniques, for the investigation of both inorganic and organic materials in the field of cultural heritage. The focus of the research has always been the micro-destructiveness/non-destructiveness - as well as the portability of the techniques. Vibrational micro-spectroscopies were therefore preferred - especially Raman spectroscopy - whose excellent results in the laboratory led to the development and application of portable instrumentation. The scientific activity of Vittoria Guglielmi has been reported in over than 80 scientific publications (papers, book chapters and conferences’ proceedings), and about 60 contributions at national and international conferences. She gives lessons for several Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees courses at the University of Milan and the Scuola di Restauro di Botticino (Milan).

Alessio Carullo is Full Professor of Electrical and Electronic Measurements with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy. He received his M.S. degree in Electronic Engineering in 1992 from Politecnico di Torino, Italy and his Ph.D. degree in Electronic Instrumentation in 1997 from the Università di Brescia, Italy. His main research fields are the design and metrological characterization of intelligent instrumentation, the validation of remotely-exercised calibration systems and the development of wearable devices for health monitoring. He is the author of 50 journal papers (43 international journals and 7 Italian journals), 2 book chapters, a book and more than 100 contributions at international and Italian conferences.