The seismic response of a medieval church in Central Italy is analyzed considering the two roof configurations, i.e., reinforced concrete and timber roofs, that the church had in different periods of its existence. Structural interventions and changes are common in the churches of this territory, where frequent earthquakes put these buildings at risk. The church studied here, St. Salvatore in Acquapagana (Serravalle di Chienti, province of Macerata), was damaged by the 1997 Umbria-Marche and the 2016 Central Italy earthquakes. Between these two seismic events, the church was repaired, and the concrete roof was substituted with a lighter timber roof. To investigate the influence of this change on the seismic response, a study was performed at the building and façade macroelement scales using the finite element model and rigid body spring model, respectively. For each approach, the two roof configurations were considered, and two strong motion records, from September 26, 1997, and October 30, 2016, were applied. The results show that the concrete roof improves the box-like behavior, but it increases the vulnerability of the masonry structures, characterized by a limited tensile strength. Conversely, in the timber roof configuration, the most vulnerable areas of the structure are the intersections between structural elements.

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This article proposes a multidisciplinary approach for the assessment of seismic damage from the perspective of conservation and prevention. A comparison of the state of damage has been carried out in a case study, St. Salvatore church in Acquapagana (MC), as an example of church, which underwent two important seismic events in the Central Italy area, the 1997 and the 2016 earthquakes. The comparison of the state of damage passes through the following stages: (a) the territorial seismic overview; (b) the historical description and material analysis; (c) the identification of macro-elements with activated damage mechanisms; (d) the comparison between the two seismic events both from a territorial-and building-scale perspective. This work puts together the archived and the on-site survey data with those elaborated starting from seismogenic information, available from the National Seismological Institute, and it provides a strategy also for other similar conditions. This work is to be considered a contribution to a wider study that could be carried out in the areas hit by the 2016 earthquake. It could also represent a way to collect documentation in the post-earthquake phase, improving the effectiveness of procedures currently applied to the first level of damage assessment.

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