A year of studies for seismic improvement in Piazza di Spagna
In March 2024 the firm presented, in a film led by Enzo Medardo Costantini, the result of a year of studies for the seismic improvement of a listed building in Piazza di Spagna, Rome. An experimental project, developed with internationally recognised professionals, that brings the question of structural safety into one of the most delicate historic settings in the country.
From surfaces to structure
RIVA has been working in Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Mignanelli since 2014: between 2014 and 2017 it restored seven buildings on the square, with the Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma, recovering historic plasters, stone surfaces, frescoes and decorations dating from the late sixteenth century to 1934. The historic plaster surfaces exceed nine thousand square metres, the stone surfaces about two thousand, and more than sixteen hundred square metres are frescoes and decorations. That site, from the diagnostic approach to the execution phase and the programmed-maintenance modules left with the owners, is told in the book «Storia di un restauro» by Enzo Medardo Costantini (Nardini Editore, 2018).
The seismic project addresses a different and complementary theme: no longer only the surfaces, but the behaviour of the building in an earthquake. On a listed building every structural intervention must be reversible, compatible with the historic materials and invisible in its result.
A year of research
The work went through three phases: the study of the building and its transformations, the diagnostics to understand materials and structures, and the design of the improvement measures. The film, published at the end of the year’s work, presents the method and the choices made. It is the same path the firm follows in every conservation restoration, applied here to a structural problem: know before intervening, measure before deciding, document every step so that it remains legible to those who come next.
Research and development
With this project the firm confirms its investment in technical and technological research applied to the conservation of cultural and architectural heritage of national interest, and undertakes to continue along the same path. The film «Progetto Miglioramento Sismico Piazza di Spagna» is available on the firm’s YouTube channel.