Structure and stone cladding in building constructions in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, from the 12th to the 18th century: methods used for the analysis and indexing of masonry categories and related performancesin response to seismic activities.

The research project, theme of the PhD study in History, Representation and Architectural Conservation XVII cycle, co-ordinated by professor Claudio Varagnoli, University ‘G. d’Annunzio’, Chieti-Pescara, aims at defining a general framework of the present state of the traditional buildings in Abruzzo and the action of the structures in response to the seismic activities based on the cataloguing of the architectural heritage recently discovered in L’Aquila during the earthquake in 2009. The study has been carried out through the analysis of urban fabric and individual architectural emergency works on the buildings in the historic centre (as San Giuseppe dei Minimi and San Sisto) providing a revision of techniques and traditional anti-seismic devices which are firmly embedded in the territory within the building and trial procedures. The architectural heritage of L’Aquila appears to have a vast repertoire of various types of anti-seismic devices that deserve to be examined evaluating the reinstatement or its use as a preliminary operative model favouring it over other technologies that appear to be less appropriate and inefficiently tested. The research and sampling of the varieties of masonry in the “crater”, the mechanisms to identify the damages the building suffered from and the proper reinforcement systems are valid instruments of knowledge, management and prevention of the historical architectural heritage in Abruzzo necessary for the future processes of reconstruction.