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The preliminary results of an ambient-vibration based investigation conducted on a large sample of historic masonry towers in the Marche region (Central Italy) are presented, with a focus on the belfry of Collegiata of Santa Maria in Visso (Italy). The assessment procedure includes full-scale ambient vibration testing, modal identification from ambient vibration responses, finite element modeling and dynamic-based identification of the uncertain structural parameters of the model. As the most doubtful parameters, the modulus of elasticity of the masonry is adjusted to achieve the experimental results with numerical model by simple operations.

Italy is a high seismic risk country since 1900 more than 30 earthquakes with magnitude greater than Mw=5.8 have occurred, and the last one is the Central Italy seismic sequence. The first shock occurred in the 24 August (Mw=6.2) followed by another stronger quake in the 30th October (Mw=6.5). It hit the regions of Marche, Umbria, and Abruzzo heavily causing many deaths, injuries and extensive damages on the cultural heritage. This paper analyses the church of San Francesco in Amadola, located in the Marche region that has been considered condemned for the severe damages reported after these earthquakes. The church is globally analyzed by the application of nonlinear static analysis on a Finite Element Model where the nonlinearity of masonry is taking into account with a proper constitutive law. The study wants to prove how global analysis combined by the local analysis can reproduce the behavior of this structure during a quake, showing that it can repeat the real damages produced by earthquakes.