Cultural Heritage Exposed to Natural Hazards: The Case Study of the Convent of San Domenico in Maiori

It is nowadays acknowledged that the minimum intervention principle shall guide any structural interventions on Cultural Heritage buildings. The enhancement of the structural capacity shall not result in a weakening of the values and the authenticity of the monument. Hence, the design of an efficient structural intervention has to be based on a correct interpretation of the current damage. Within this framework, this paper presents the preliminary analysis carried out to assess and evaluate the structural behaviour of a complex case study affected by several deficiencies. The case study is the convent of Saint Domenico, a monumental seventeenth century’s masonry structure, belonging to the traditional architectural typology of the court building and characterized by the presence of a large variety of vaulted systems. The building is located in Maiori, a small town in the Amalfi Coast (Italy), a site of great cultural and naturalistic interest, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997. The structure, heavily damaged by two seismic events occurred in the 80s, is abandoned and currently shows an extensive and diffuse crack pattern that is the result of the interaction of several causes. In this paper, the multidisciplinary approach adopted to acquire a deep knowledge of the Convent is presented first. The constructive evolution of the building, traced through a critical historical analysis, is presented, providing a special focus on the transformations that increased the structure vulnerability. An accurate survey of the building geometry, with the aid of photogrammetric technology, and of the current crack pattern are presented. Lastly a first interpretation of the crack pattern is provided based on the kinematic analysis of the corresponding potential collapse mechanisms.