PRESERVING THE VENETIAN FORTRESS OF BERGAMO: QUICK PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SURVEY FOR CONSERVATION PLANNING

Abstract. The historical and cultural relevance of the City Walls built by the ‘Serenissima’ Republic of Venice in the second half of 16th century was recognized in 2017 by the insertion of Bergamo, together with other Venetian Fortresses in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, in the World Heritage List of UNESCO as transnational site. In the framework of the nomination to the WHL, the City Council together with the University of Bergamo started a campaign of studies and surveys aimed to prepare a conservation planning. The goal of this plan is to assure a constant monitoring of this artwork, so that a strict routine of controls, cleaning and small strengthening works would prevent more relevant interventions, which could corrupt the material integrity of the building.

This paper delineates the methodological and operational workflow applied to the preparation of the maintenance plan, now in progress, for the Venetian City Walls of Bergamo, where the photogrammetric survey by means of UAV plays an important role. The different working phases, the adopted instrumentation, the difficulties encountered and the choices made are described, and some case studies are also illustrated that represent well the typical problems encountered for the conservation of the Walls.