Ricerc@Sapienza

Cultural heritage sites such as historical or sacred areas provide suitable habitats for plants and play an important role in nature conservation, particularly in human-modified contexts such as urban environments. However, such sites also provide opportunities for the spread of invasive species, whose impact on monuments has been raising growing concerns. The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of distribution and spread of invasive plants in heritage areas, taking the city of Rome as an example.

Microorganisms often cause significant damage on historical objects. The archive or library materials as well as textile or leather artifacts suffer serious attacks that need appropriate care treatments. Several biocide processes have been implemented but often their application does not preserve the material of the good. The objective of this work is the disinfection through ionizing radiation of leather wallpaper from the museum building Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia (Rome, Italy).

BACKGROUND:
Nanotechnologies are currently revolutionizing the world around us, improving the quality of our lives thanks to a multitude of applications in several areas including the environmental preservation, with the biodeterioration phenomenon representing one of the major concerns.
RESULTS:

Travertine is a sedimentary carbonate rock widely used in Roman arts and frequently subjected to biodeterioration. In this preliminary multi-analytical study, three essential oils (EOs) from T. vulgaris, O. vulgare, C. nepeta and their respective phenolic major components (thymol, carvacrol, pulegone) were selected to evaluate their biocidal potential against a multi-species biofilm grown on a travertine test wall located inside Sapienza University Campus in Rome. A preliminary characterization of the biofilm occurred through the employment of genomic methodologies.

The society has become increasingly interested in using natural products over chemicals for cleaning activities. In this study, the cleaning potential of formulations embedded in a hydrogel matrix and composed respectively of essential oils (EOs) of Origanum vulgare, Thymus vulgaris, and Calamintha nepeta, and their respective main active components (EO-ACs), viz., Carvacrol, Thymol, and Pulegone, on a phototropic biofilm growing on granite was investigated.