State of the art of the research on historic structures in seismic areas in Italy

The paper analyses the most recent research carried out in Italy concerning the seismic behaviour of historic buildings. The last Umbria (Italy) earthquake in 1997 was an interesting on site test for the evaluation of the repair and prevention techniques applied to masonry building of historic centres in seismic areas, but also of the structural modelling. Most of the examined situations gave important contributes to a general re-thinking of the masonry evaluation and strengthening. The great importance in the mechanic behaviour of a building of the building rules and of the structural details, as well as the transformation phases has been demonstrated.