SISMICITA’E CINETICHE DI DEGRADO STRUTTURALI IL

CONTRIBUTO DELL’ARCHEOLOGIADELL’ARCHITETTURA

ArrighettiA.,*SessaM.*CastelliV.**

*DipartimentodiScienzeStoricheedeiBeniCulturali-UniversitàdegliStudidiSiena

**IstitutoNazionalediGeofisicaeVulcanologia,Bologna

ABSTRACT

The damage prevention and restoration of cultural heritage in seismic risk areas has been- and is still today- a complex

and very discussed argument, related to a vast, heterogeneous and average seismic panorama as the Italian one, rich of

historical buildings to preserve.  The recent "Linee guida per la valutazione e riduzione del rischio sismico del

patrimonio culturale" (Guidelines for the evaluation and reduction of the seismic risk of cultural heritage), issued by

MiBAC, underlinethenecessitytoadoptaholisticapproachintheanalysisofartifacts,bycreatinganinteractionofthe

collectible data through the use of both humanistic and scientific types of analysis. In the last years, the Laboratory of

ArchaeologyandArchitectureoftheUniversityofSienahasdevelopedamethodologicalapproachwhichintegratesthe

archaeological method with the ones of other disciplines (such as historical seismology, structural engineering, science

of the earth, architecture). This approach consists in paying particular attention, in a first phase, to the analysis of the

seismological catalogues and seismic maps; in the second phase, the archaeological data is integrated with a macro-

element reading, in order to breakdown stratigraphically and read from a seismological point of view the buildings

examined. The testing of this approach in two areas of the Tuscany region (Mugello and Casentino) has permitted to

reconstruct the building history of the edifices analalyzed, in relation to the seismic history of their territory. The

identification and characterization of instabilities and possible repairments or reconstructions, combined with the

stratigraphicanalysisofthebuildings,haveprovidedinformationontheirchronology(bothrelativeandabsolute).Once

verified the accuracy of the hypothesis formulated, the collapsing and restoration activities interpreted as signs of past

earthquakes(ifnotduetoothernaturalorhumancauses)havegiventhepossibilitytoconnectthemtoseismicepisodes

notknowninhistoryandtounderstandhowthebuildingreactedtoacertainearthquake.Theapplicationofarchaeology

to the study of architecture in seismic risk areas can therefore contribute in a significant and innovative way to the

knowledge of cultural assets and their context, as requested by the ministerial guidelines. In addition, the results

obtainedfromthiskindofapproachcanprovideusefulinformationforadeeperstudyofpastearthquakes.Thisdata,if

well interpreted, can potentially  constitute useful elements for the preventive analysis on buildings and for the

seismologicalknowledgeoftheterritory.

KEYWORDS: Archeologiadell’Architettura,SismologiaStorica,Vulnerabilità,Sismicità,Cinetichedidegrado