The Abruzzo earthquake hit the city of L'Aquila and its surroundings on the April 6, 2009. The aim of this study is to analyze the technical features of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings and assess their seismic behavior during the Abruzzo 2009 seismic event. The damage induced in the URM constructions of L'Aquila and the suburbs was severe and several such buildings collapsed. This study includes an overview of the dynamic characteristics of the earthquake and the seismic history of the region. The seismic performance of URM buildings is discussed on the basis of both the experience in L'Aquila and the village of Castelvecchio Subequo, during the post-emergency support to the Italian Department of Civil Protection (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile [DPC]), and the field investigation carried out with the patronage of the EU COST Action C26 and the cooperation of the PLINIVS Centre of Naples in three areas of the old city of L'Aquila. The main characteristics of URM buildings, the building behavior and damage are described and reviewed with due respect to the characteristics of the earthquake, as well as with reference to the structural and non-structural characteristics of buildings, using the Italian MEDEA procedure.

This paper describes the rehabilitation of the S. Giorgio Church Bell-Tower (Trignano, Municipality of S. Martino in Rio, Reggio Emilia, Italy), completed in September 1999. This masonry building, seriously damaged by the earthquake of October 15th 1996 which struck the Reggio Emilia and Modena Districts (Italy), was investigated by the authors immediately after the seismic event, as other ancient Cultural Heritage Structures (CUHESs) in the same area. In the past, seismic events have visited substantial destruction that translates into a significant loss of architectural heritage. The most common solution traditionally used to enhance the CUHESs seismic behaviour is the introduction of localized reinforcements, usually Traditional Steel Ties (TSTs), increasing stability and ductility. Anyway, in many cases said reinforcement techniques, often too invasive, proved to be inadequate to prevent collapse. For these reasons, the Bell-Tower intervention applies Innovative Antiseismic Techniques (IATs) by the use of superelastic Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Devices (SMADs), a technology developed after a large amount of theoretical studies, numerical analyses and test campaigns. The SMADs, which can be considered a powerful tool with respect to the traditional methods, provide acceleration reduction, force limitation and energy dissipation. Furthermore, they are characterized by low invasivity and complete reversibility. When another earthquake occurred on June 18th 2000, with the same epicenter and a comparable Richter Magnitudo, the Bell-Tower, subjected to a new investigation, showed no damage of any type. Thus, the new seismic event has been the best verification of the retrofit intervention.

The development of innovative techniques based on shape memory alloy devices (SMADs), for the purpose of seismic protection for cultural heritage structures, began in Italy within the framework of an European Commission-funded project and continued with further studies and applications. These devices exploit a special property of shape memory alloys: their superelasticity—the ability to recover very high deformation without residual strain, associated with a non-linear constitutive behavior, making it possible to keep the force constant in a wide range of displacements. Consequently, SMADs can be used as special ties capable of limiting the forces transmitted between the structural elements that they connect (e.g., a church facade and the roof), at the same time allowing small displacements. Compared with very rigid conventional steel ties, SMADs are able to reduce accelerations and forces, and thus increase the seismic capacity of the structure. This article provides a brief overview about the research and development that led to the world's first applications of SMADs for seismic protection, within the framework of the post-earthquake restoration of the upper basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy.

Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful tools to create maps, scenarios, and inventories for habitats and heritage to manage hazard, vulnerability, and risk due to natural/anthropic disasters. In the framework of this huge investigation field, some research, susceptible to development, has been done. The first GIS nucleus, targeted on earthquake and joining architectonic/urban planning analyses with vulnerability evaluation, began in the framework of four master's theses, a cooperation between the ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment) and Ferrara University. The work concerned San Giuliano di Puglia (hit by the 2002 earthquake) because a lot of material was available due to several activities performed there by ENEA experts. Architectonic/urban planning studies regarded the whole ancient core, while vulnerability analysis focused a specific inner sector. Another GIS activity grew in the MAR VASTO Project (centered on Valparaiso, Chile), managed by ENEA, with participation of Italian/Chilean partners and support of local stakeholders. The project stressed the following points: to evaluate the impact of main natural/anthropic hazards; to provide architectonic/urban planning and vulnerability analyses for a pilot building stock in the historic area; to carry out surveys and vulnerability evaluations on monumental churches; and to suggest guidelines for future interventions.

A wide ranging R&D Project (ISTECH) on validation and application of the Innovative Antiseismic Techniques (IATs) for the restoration of Cultural Heritage Structures (CUHESs), especially masonry buildings, based on the Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), has been funded by the European Commission (EC), in the framework of the Environment and Climate RTD Programme. Because Traditional Restoration Techniques (TRTs) have sometimes proved inadequate in avoiding collapses and often too invasive, the use of superelastic SMA Devices (SMADs) has been developed. Theoretical and numerical studies, as well as intensive testing of material specimens, devices, structural models and in situ campaigns, show that SMADs can substantially increase the stability of masonry CUHESs exposed to an earthquake. Different SMAD types have been investigated to fulfil different structural needs and they can be custom designed taking into account each monument's characteristics. The successful results of the research and its exploitation led to important applications in Italy: the S. Giorgio Church Bell-Tower, located at Trignano, S. Martino in Rio, Reggio Emilia, damaged by the 15th October 1996 earthquake, the transept tympana of the S. Francesco Basilica in Assisi and the S. Feliciano Cathedral fa‡ade in Foligno, both heavily damaged by the September 1997 earthquake. In addition, further studies and applications of SMAD technology are foreseen in Italy in the next future, in the framework of Italian and European research projects and proposals.