ABSTRACT
The restoration works on the main spire of the Cathedral of Milan involved the substitution of the old and corroded metallic tie rods and the neighbouring broken stone at the base, where the spire interacts with eight great reversed arches and buttresses made of Candoglia marble. Continuous restoration work to strengthen and replace the damaged parts is necessary, involving a numerous workforce to execute repair operations a continuously updated schedule of interventions. The chapter aims to analyse the structure at study combining experimental observations of the damage and limit analysis results of the structural action, and presents a masonry structure with iron ties and links connecting the blocks. For the masonry behaviour, the effect of iron links theoretically limits the opening of cracks, leads to more energy dissipation and hence a less brittle behaviour and different localisation phenomena. The octagonal base of the spire is built of solid blocks of stone with iron ties and considered as rigid.
