The
Florence city council’s latest promise to get tough on vandals has brought
about a new high-tech surveillance system to guard the city’s sixteenth-century
fountain of Neptune in Piazza Signoria.
The fountain has been the target of many acts of vandalism in the past,
including an incident in 2005 when Neptune’s hand and staff were shattered into
more than 30 pieces when a drunken youth climbed onto the statue with two
friends.
The
state-of-the-art surveillance system that will guard the ‘Biancone’ (‘big white
man,’ the statue’s local nickname) was custom-made by engineers at the
University of Siena and includes special cameras and an alarm system.
A surveillance camera placed 40 meters above the massive monument will
detect intruders. If someone crosses into the restricted area, the camera sets
off an alarm to alert local police. Two other cameras will automatically zoom
in on the intruder, taking high-resolution footage that will allow authorities
to identify the face of the intruder and follow his or her movements.
If the
intruder moves away from the fountain, nothing occurs; if the person gets
closer to Neptune, an alarm sounds, lights can be switched on, illuminating the
fountain, and a warning can be broadcast via loud speaker. The system may soon
be upgraded with sensors on and around the monument.
Local authorities are
also considering the same high-tech surveillance system, which cost a total of
200,000 euro, for other city monuments.
‘It is a very cutting-edge system that can be adapted to other contexts
and thus used in other situations,’ says University of Siena engineer
Alessandro Mecocci.
