The assessment of fungal bioaerosols in the crypt of St. Peter in Perugia (Italy) L. Ruga, F. Orlandi * , B. Romano, M. Fornaciari Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy article info Article history: Received 22 September 2014 Received in revised form 18 December 2014 Accepted 23 December 2014 Available online Keywords: Aerobiological monitoring Cultural heritage Indoor environment Crypt Fungal spore Biodeterioration abstract The inspection of the quality of the indoor air in which a work of art or a historical artefact is kept becomes essential for its conservation. The determination of organic pollutants represents an important tool in pre-emptive conservation. The study investigated the quality of the air in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Peter in Perugia (Italy) through different methodologies. The objectives included the analysis of the levels of biological particulates of fungal origin, and the determination of the degree of variability of the airborne spore concentrations, as indicative of the level of contamination of the environment. The quantitative analysis of the airborne fungal component demonstrates that across the whole period considered there were wide variations in the bioaerosols, heterogeneous spore distributions and different peak concentrations in the areas studied. The qualitative analysis of the airborne fungal component allowed the determination of the different fungal genera present, both in the interior of the crypt and in the outside environment. The analysis of the data shows an increasing trend over the period considered, with the highest values during the months of June and July. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction The conservation of our cultural heritage has for many years favoured protection against the risk of degradation, to limit any damage before it gets worse (‘pre-emptive conservation’). In this way, the focus of the conservation moves from the work of art itself to the physical environment in which it is kept (Getty Conservation Institute, 1994). The regulation of the quality of the indoor air in which a work of art or a historical artefact is kept becomes essential for its conservation. In particular, determination of organic pollut- ants is useful, so that the procedure to optimise the environmental protection represents an important tool in pre-emptive conserva- tion, and above all allows the definition of the levels of biodeteri- oration risk (which arises from the life processes of living organisms that produce changes in the materials of their sur- rounding environment) and of sanitary hygiene for the associated operators and visitors (Sorlini, 1993; Mandrioli and Caneva, 1998; Urzì et al., 2001; Pinna, 2003; Aira et al., 2007; Angelosante et al., 2007; Ruga et al., 2007, 2008; Chen et al., 2010). The methodolo- gies and the operational techniques for the prevention and recov- ery of damages caused by the biodeterioration improve the information about the biological risk factors of the workers. These diseases may be particularly dangerous and related to the conser- vation and restoration of ancient artefacts often degraded by the action of living organisms. The numerous examples of diseases that affect the restorers may be caused by the manipulation of artefacts from infected areas or environments, or by artefacts that act as vectors of pathogenic agents not particularly dangerous in the broad sense, but which have been isolated for a long period, and against which the human body struggles to develop specific im- munity. In the confined environments where particularly valuable historical, artistic or cultural objects are kept, such as museums, libraries, archives, churches and hypogea, there are a wide range of microorganisms and macroorganisms that represent potential risks for the degradation of these objects. These can also act in synergy with other factors, such as the atmospheric conditions, the nature of the artefact, its location within the environment, the materials that can be subject to attack, and any physicochemical degradation processes that are already present (Ruga et al., 2008). Moreover, an artefact that has been previously restored, it may sometimes be subject to an increased susceptibility to biological degradation due to the type of substances used in recovery oper- ations (Gu, 2003; Cappitelli et al., 2004). In confined environments, there is a lack of the natural circu- latory mechanisms that are normally part of the external envi- ronment, which results in greater amounts and settling of dust and * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 075 5856067; fax: þ39 075 5856598. E-mail address: fabio.orlandi@unipg.it (F. Orlandi). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ibiod http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2014.12.010 0964-8305/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 98 (2015) 121e130