Structural Assessment of a Heritage Building in the UNESCO Site of Alberobello

The cultural building Heritage is widespread all around the world and mainly consists of masonry structures. The UNESCO Map indicates about the 50% of this Heritage is placed in Italy, where seismic risk is recognized in the whole national territory. One of the most notorious sites is the city of Alberobello due to the presence of the well-known Trulli: the old city. With their cone-shaped roof made by stones, the Trulli are a unique example of architectural heritage. Moreover, the relatively new area is full of historical buildings that are an additional Heritage for the city. This study reports on the structural assessment of a large masonry structure faced in front of the Trulli zone, which is considered to be one of the first building of the old city. The building is the results of an aggregation of different units in which several masonry typologies met, at different ages. The historical and geometrical surveys were both performed in order to plan in-situ investigations aimed to reach an adequate level of confidence with respect to the mechanical properties of the masonry, according to the technical codes. A global analysis was performed by finite element method (FEM). Thus, the vulnerability assessment is herein reported and discussed for this complex building.