A new pilot monitoring system will track environmental conditions and visitor flows inside the Brancacci Chapel, home to masterworks by Masaccio, Masolino and Filippino Lippi, as part of a European heritage preservation project.
The Brancacci Chapel in Florence’s Church of Santa Maria del Carmine — one of the defining sites of early Renaissance art — is to become a testing ground for smart conservation technology. It is part of the European AccesS project in which the Municipality of Florence is a partner.
The pilot system has been developed with scientific support from the National Research Council’s Institute of Heritage Science (CNR-ISPC), technological collaboration from Axians Italia, and in coordination with Florence’s cultural heritage authorities. Its aim is to understand how visitor presence affects the chapel’s internal microclimate and, in turn, the long-term condition of its celebrated fresco cycle.
Conservation and accessibility
Wireless sensors installed inside the chapel measure temperature, humidity, air quality and carbon dioxide levels. Separate devices anonymously count visitors and record how long they remain in the space. The combined data is processed through Axians Italia’s Xsona digital platform, which is expected to support increasingly detailed analysis of the relationship between visitor numbers and environmental change.
The monitoring devices are compact and minimally invasive, intended to blend discreetly into the historic setting.
Culture councillor Giovanni Bettarini described the project as an attempt to balance conservation and accessibility. Innovation councillor Laura Sparavigna said Florence continues to position itself as a testing ground for smart technologies in the management of historic and artistic heritage.
CNR-ISPC researcher Cristiano Riminesi noted that advances in miniaturised monitoring technology now make continuous conservation analysis possible with limited impact on historic sites.
The Brancacci Chapel frescoes, painted in the 1420s by Masaccio and Masolino and completed decades later by Filippino Lippi, are among the most studied works in Western art. Masaccio’s contribution in particular has long been regarded as a foundational moment in the development of Renaissance painting.
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