# Indoor Microclimate Analysis of the San Panfilo Church in Tornimparte, Italy
## 1 Introduction  
Some historic buildings have miraculously been preserved to the present day, overcoming many adversities such as wars, fires and earthquakes. In addition, some historic buildings preserve wonderful artworks that amaze, comfort and delight people who can admire them. The conservation of artistic and cultural heritage is therefore a duty; moreover, due to the proximity of beauty, it is also an enjoyable commitment for professionals. The aim of studying microclimate for cultural heritage is to investigate the environmental conditions around a work of art and to individuate critical and dangerous conditions [1, 2]. In fact, works of art can be conserved over time if the surrounding environment does not favor the processes of degradation. Microclimatic monitoring is therefore essential to know the environmental situation and possibly to propose solutions or improvements in order to promote conservation. In order to establish safe ranges in microclimatic variability, some standards have been proposed, such as UNI 10829 [3] and EN 15757 [4]. The UNI 10829 standard established the methodology to evaluate the microclimate and suggested the range of variability for microclimatic parameters in order to properly preserve artworks. This norm has the advantage of giving practical guidance in organizing a measurement campaign and in fixing the safe zone using threshold values for 33 classes of artworks; its disadvantage lies in the rigid safe ranges that are not applicable in every environment. The EN 15757 standard overcame thisdifficulty with the definition of the historic climate that considers the environment conditions where the works of art are acclimatized. In order to compare different microclimatic conditions, several indexes have been defined (such as [5; 6; 7]); they are easily computed using more than one microclimatic parameter and provide comprehensive information about different sites. Despite the availability of these useful instruments, the debate around safe zones is still open. Historical buildings and churches have conserved ancient artworks for centuries, and they are themselves cultural heritage. Their indoor microclimates are favorable to conservation mainly as the thermal inertia of their massive thick walls mitigates external fluctuations. In the last 30 years, many historic buildings have been monitored and studied (among others, [8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13]) with the aim to investigate the microclimatic conditions and to suggest improvements to restorers. Recently, the microclimate inside small and ancient churches preserving priceless heritage [14; 15; 16] has been analyzed. In this work, we present the monitoring campaign performed in the church of San Panfilo in Tornimparte (L'Aquila, Italy) with the aim of detecting the microclimatic situation and identifying any critical conditions for conservation. The parish church of Tornimparte dates back to the second part of the XII century or the beginning of the XIII century, and during its long history, it underwent profound renovations as a consequence of earthquakes and fires. The church now presents four naves with some altars and a painted deep apse. [PERSON] depicted the cycle of frescoes in the apse from 1491 to 1494 [17; 18]. The cycle includes a representation of the glory of [PERSON] in the vault and scenes of the [PERSON]'s passion and resurrection on the side walls. In the central part of the apse, it is likely that the crucifixion was represented, but the scene was lost in 1922 with the opening of a window [18]. In lateral naves, some frescoes, paintings and statues are preserved; moreover, outside the church, part of the external portico is frescoed with medieval paintings on the external church walls and with a [PERSON] and Child in the lunette above the main door. In this work, the monitoring activity is described, and the results are discussed. Monitored physical quantities were temperature and relative humidity inside and outside the church.