Investigation Methodology Applied to the Structure of the Church of St. Biagio in L’Aquila

After the earthquake that stroke the city of L’Aquila during the night of April 6th 2009, many historical buildings at the city centre were severly damaged. Nevertheless many others survived the seismic event with only local damages, showing a good mechanical behaviour against vertical and horizontal actions. In order to continue preserving these buildings, a careful investigation is necessary before applying any repair technique, new or traditional to understand the past design practices for building durable and safe structures. In order to understand the structural behaviour of the church of St. Biagio in L’aquila, an extensive diagnostic investigation based on non-destructive and minor destructive techniques was carried out by the authors. The paper describes mainly the applied methodology which can produce some guidelines to be followed in the future study of other Cultural Heritage (C. H.) buildings hit by the earthquake.