IRT Survey of Historic Building Façades for Focusing the Diagnostic Analysis

In this work ,the IRT technique was applied to investigate the painted façades of the Lenzi palace in Florence. The palace currently houses the French Institute in Florence and it has undergone several renovations and restorations over years, the last one in 1984. The target of the IRT survey has been to highlight the areas affected by decay phenomena, including those already restored. This result was used to direct the sampling for laboratory analysis, thus reducing the number of samples and optimizing the sampling procedure. The laboratory analysis, consisting of FT-IR, XRD, optical and electronic microscopes investigations, allowed the identification of executive technique, the products of past restoration and the alteration/decay products. Through the experience of this case study, it was possible to check the effectiveness of IRT technique in supporting a multidisciplinary approach to focus diagnostic analysis and verify the efficacy and duration of conservation interventions by remote way identifying areas subjected to new decay phenomena.