The Behaviour of S. Agostino Church during 6th April 2009 Earthquake in L’Aquila: Vulnerability and Damage Assessment

The church of S.Agostino in L’Aquila was built at the beginning of XVIII century, replacing an older church collapsed during the strong earthquake of 1703. The building has a central layout. During April 6th earthquake, it suffered many damage. The lantern collapsed. Severe cracks concerned the hall-drum-dome elliptical system, the apse and the bell tower. Moreover, the façade was subjected to an overturning mechanism. The elliptical layout of the building induced a mainly longitudinal seismic response. In the paper, a extensive description of the damage is provided. Moreover, the seismic behavior of the church is discussed on the basis of observation of damage and vulnerability features of the structure. A correlation between damage, vulnerability and seismic actions is finally proposed.