Stone Architecture in Abruzzo: Seismic Risk Analysis of Bell Tower of the Church of San Lorenzo in San Buono

Abstract

The church of San Lorenzo in San Buono (Italy) is unique in the local landscape due to its technical, and architectural features. The building, whose construction dates from the 14th century to the mid-20th century, was realized by the most important designers in the region. The bell tower is an element characterized by refined neoclassicism and testifies to a remarkable episode of the permanence of the neoclassical style in Abruzzo until the first decades of the 20th century.The present study illustrates both a technological-constructive analysis of the building and an assessment of the seismic risk of the bell tower, to present an important point for the knowledge of the artefact with regard to possible conservative restoration works. The seismic risk analyses are carried out for two different structural configurations and two different typologies allowed by the Italian building codes for monumental masonry buildings: simplified linear and non-linear static. The study illustrates how the presence of the adjacent structure significantly alters the structural behavior of the masonry tower, both in terms of displacement and propagation of the crack pattern. The differences in the results of the non-linear calculation and the expeditious methods suggested by the standard are highlighted as well.