Urban engineered slope collapsed in Rome on February 14th, 2018. Results from remote sensing monitoring

On February 14th, 2018, in the North-Western sector of the Municipality of Rome (Central Italy), in the framework of an excavation for building construction, a portion of a piling wall piling wall collapsed in an already densely urbanized area. Soil behind the collapsed piling wall slipped inside the excavation site dragging seven cars parked on one side of the road running parallel to the piling wall and affecting some residential buildings located on the opposite side of the road. Fortunately, no injuries were counted but the 22 families living in the buildings next to the damaged wall were evacuated. Following the piling wall collapse, the Civil Protection of Rome, thanks to the technical support of the Research Centre on Geological Risks (CERI) of the Sapienza University of Rome, started a continuous monitoring of the affected area through remote sensing techniques. In the first hours following the collapse, a Terrestrial Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometer (TInSAR) and a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) were installed with the aim to control the evolution of the process, to support the local authority to manage the associated residual risk, and to ensure the safety of workers during emergency operations. In this paper we discuss some of the results obtained by the monitoring of the involved area. Thanks to the comparisons between different surveys and the reconstruction of the pre-event geometries, the total volume involved in the failure was estimated around 850 m3. In addition, through the analysis of data acquired by the 18 multi-temporal TLS scans and the three and a half months of continuous TInSAR monitoring, the movement involving a portion of the filling material used for stabilization works was observed and described. Such movement, reaching a total displacement of about 270–300 mm, was monitored and reported in real time

Satellite A-DinSAR monitoring of the Vittoriano monument (Rome, Italy). Implications for heritage preservation

The "Vittoriano" monument, dedicated to king Vittorio Emanuele II, is one of the most famous cultural heritage landmarks in Rome (Italy), even because it hosts the Tomb of the unknown soldier, monument to the Italian fallen in wars. It was designed by the architect Giuseppe Sacconi at the end of 19th century and since the beginning of its construction, it has been affected by cracks and deformations. In the last years, such phenomena have become more evident, especially on the western side of the building. With the aim of understanding the causes of the deformation process and making a diagnosis of the soil-structure interaction of the Monument, a specific project has been undertaken between CERI Sapienza and the Lazio Museum Network.Satellite ADInSAR was performed to infer the recent deformational history of the main parts of the monument, by using medium and high-resolution SAR images acquired in double orbital geometry (ascending and descending) and covering the last two decades.Through the support of selected geological and lithotechnical data it was possible to interpret the deformational dynamics of the Vittoriano.The overall investigations allowed to better define the volume and the structures that have been involved in the deformation mechanisms, which is currently driving the overall process, in order to address effective mitigation measures. They are capable of backward analysing the deformational process, reconstructing the evolution of a phenomenon and above all capable of easily investigating large areas