Italian castles and earthquakes: a GIS for knowledge and preservation

A research previously conducted on the seismic damages of the castles in the Emilia region is here widened considering more seismic events, in other parts of Italy, with castles realized with different building techniques and materials. For each seismic event, the characteristics of the earthquake have been described also by means of shake maps and the castles in the area have been identified and inserted into a specifically formulated GIS. Then, a thorough archival and bibliographical research on the damages suffered by the most significant case histories was conducted, allowing to compare the damages observed in castles with different characteristics in terms of soil, materials, typologies, conservation status. Furthermore, new damage mechanisms have been inserted into the table. This represents a useful instrument for the castles preservation, as it allows to point out all the possible vulnerabilities on which the strengthening operations need to concen-trate to reduce future damage.