First results of long-term monitoring of Portico Varano in the Camerino Ducal Palace (Italy)

Portico Varano in the Ducal Palace of Camerino (Italy) is a Renaissance monumental quadriporticus that was severely damaged by the Central Italy earthquakes in 2016. Within the field activities for saving cultural heritage foreseen within a recent European research project, a long-term static and dynamic monitoring system was installed in October 2020. Through a series of accelerometers, the monitoring system allows to track the evolution of the modal parameters of the structure, namely frequency, damping ratio and modal shapes, and investigate the effects of environmental conditions on the building dynamics. Furthermore, a series of displacement transducers installed on the vaults of the courtyard allows controlling the evolution of the crack patterns. In this paper, the design and installation of the monitoring system as well as some first results are presented and discussed.