A multi-disciplinary approach to characterize and model an anthropogenic cavity system in the historic center of Naples, Italy

Raffaele Viola¹, Silvio Coda¹, Domenico Calcaterra¹, Pantaleone De Vita¹, Rosa Di Maio¹, Diego Di Martire¹, Mauro La Manna¹, Gianluca Minin², Vincenzo Monetti¹, Paola Petrosino¹, Francesco Traversa² & Vincenzo Allocca^1
1Department of Earth Sciences, Environment and Resources, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
²ISPRA - Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy.
³INGEO S.r.l. Ingegneria e Geologia, Naples, Italy.
Corresponding author e-mail: silvio.coda@unina.it

This work focuses on the multi method characterization of an anthropogenic cavity system located in the historic center of Naples (Italy), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The main objective of the study is to establish a multidisciplinary procedure for investigating cave systems in densely urbanized and archaeologically constrained sites, providing a methodological framework to support future risk mitigation and urban planning strategies. The study site is the Complex of Saints Marcellino and Festo, an ancient architectural structure belonging to the University of Naples Federico II, where a multidisciplinary investigation was conducted. Historical stratigraphic information, geophysical surveys, new boreholes, and hydrogeological data were integrated to define the hydrostratigraphic model, the position and geometry of newly identified anthropogenic cavity systems and underground environments beneath the building and its internal cloister. The combined interpretation of the different datasets, integrated by satellite interferometric observations, provided new insights that supported a preliminary ground deformation susceptibility assessment of the site. The multimethod approach developed for the cloister of the Saints Marcellino, and Festo Monumental Complex provides a structured and transferable methodological framework for other cultural sites of the city and high-density Italian urban settings similar to Naples.

anthropogenic cavities, urban sinkholes, multi-disciplinary investigation, Naples historic centre.