by Dina D’Ayala, Elena Speranza, Francesco D’Ercole
This single-family housing type, found throughout the Central Italy (Centro Italia) mainly in hill towns and small cities, is typically built on sloped terrain. A typical house is 3 stories high, built between two adjacent buildings with which it shares common walls. The main facade of the house faces a narrow road. The ground floor level (perforated with openings on one side only) is used for storage, while the other two stories are used for residential purposes. Typical buildings of this type are approximately 3 m wide and 9 m long. The building height on the front side is on the order of 4.5 m, whereas the height on the rear side is larger (close to 5 m). All the walls are made of unreinforced brick masonry in lime mortar, while the floor structures are vaults at the ground floor level, and timber floor structures at the higher levels. The roof is made of timber and is double-pitched, sloping down towards the front and rear walls. Buildings of this type are expected to demonstrate rather good seismic performance, mostly due to their modest height. Problems related to seismic performance might be caused by the adjacent buildings (typically one story higher). Seismic strengthening techniques for buildings of this type are well established and strengthening of some buildings has been done after the recent earthquake.