Seismic vulnerability assessment of a cultural heritage castle

The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake and the 2011 Emilia earthquake caused widespread damage to the heritage masonry buildings showing the high vulnerability of the Italian historical monuments. In this context, the seismic vulnerability assessment is a relevant issue in order to preserve the historical identity of entire regions. In the present work the seismic vulnerability of a cultural heritage building has been investigated; the building is used as museum and it is located in the south of Italy. In particular, the seismic vulnerability of the Castle of Manfredonia has been analyzed. This study was conducted within a larger campaign (ARCUS) promoted by the Italian Heritage Ministry (MIBACT) in the entire Country. The main objective of this program consisted of individuating possible seismic fragilities in important heritage buildings used for public purposes. This would be the starting point for programming future interventions of strengthening and mitigation of the seismic vulnerability. The seismic assessment has been performed both in terms of local and global behaviour. The obtained results are reported and discussed in the paper; it can be emphasized, as the level of vulnerability is comparable when performing local and global analysis for the investigated case study.