A multidisciplinary approach to document and analyze seismic protection techniques in Mugello from the Middle Ages to Early Modern Time

Abstract

The contribution will outline a methodological program designed with the purpose of offering an innovative and multidisciplinary anal− ysis of seismic protection techniques in historical architecture of Mugello, a medium−high risk seismic on the Apennine mountain range between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Although the existence of specific expedients used for seismic prevention is an accepted topic by the scientific community, many a time their recognition is dependent on the experience of researchers dealing with analysis. In fact, such measures, in many cases, are used for structural purpose allowing simultaneously protection from movements caused by earthquakes. How can we document and periodize these type of techniques and recognize an "anti−seismic" conception? An answer to this may only be found through a careful analysis complementing a deep knowledge of the building methods of the area under study, that can allow the break− ing up and dating of the single construction and destruction actions present in a building, leading to the identification of some "uncom− mon" elements in respect to traditional construction techniques, being able to interpret a specific function. It is thus only through the anal− ysis of this complex mechanism that is established over time, with the reading of the instability of macro−elements and the definition of the construction history of the building, that integrates a subdivision of construction typology with a stratigraphic decomposition of the artefact, that identification of "anomalies" within the building becomes possible. Applying this research methodology to a building, or even better to a whole area, allows the identification and dating of the potential presence of "safeguards" related to earthquakes, that is all ar− chitectural elements of various form, nature, raw material, etc., put into use during or after the construction of a building to mitigate, re− pair or oppose the effect of terrestrial movement.

Preface Special Issue: Lessons from the past: the evolution of seismic protection techniques in the history of builings

“…Construction systems for "anti−seismic" structures permitted after 1908 Messina earthquake: frames of steel(1909 et seq. ); reinforced masonry (from 1912 to 1924); reinforced concrete frames with diagonal bracings (1909); frames in reinforced concrete with rigid knots (1909 and then since 1924).The contribution ofArrighetti and Minutoli [2019] outlines a methodological program designed with the purpose of offering an innovative and multidisciplinary analysis of seismic protection techniques in historical architecture of Mugello, a medium-high risk seismic area between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. This analysis can allow the breaking up and dating of the single construction and destruction actions present in a building, leading to the identification of some uncommon elements in respect to traditional construction techniques, being able to interpret a specific function(Figure 3).It is thus only through the analysis of this complex mechanism that is established over time that identification of anomalies within the building becomes possible.…”