Started studying the interaction of canvas paintings with their stretchers in 1991, proposing a method to conserve the original stretchers while supplying measured elastic tension to the painting, first published in 1996. Research continued between 2000 and 2004, studying the correlations between tension and the mechanical response of a painting, collecting data about 10 historical paintings.

The tension on stretcher of a group of paintings at the Museo Civico di Viterbo was measured indirectly, and the threshold value defined as the “Maximum Useful Tension” was defined. 106 mid-career qualified painting conservators in Italy were interviewed (2005-2007) to quantify the tension value they chose for the same mock-up painting.

The weighted average of the values appeared to be 1.7 N/cm, about 30% lower than the MUT. Since 2002, Equilibrarte used the method on several hundreds of paintings and masterpieces in museums and public collections in many countries in Europe and the Americas.

This research is documented in a book (2004) and 36 papers (1996- 2025).