ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of the investigation program performed on the bell-tower of the Church Santa Maria del Carrobiolo in Monza, Italy. It shows the importance of a global approach in the assessment of historic buildings. Preliminary documentary research and systematic visual inspection on site highlighted a weak structural layout of the bell-tower; the construction of an underground car park in the close neighborhood of the church has triggered the movement of several cracks. A static monitoring system was installed in the bell-tower to survey the opening of the main cracks and ambient vibration tests were performed with the twofold objective of validating a finite element model of the tower and implementing the installation of a continuous dynamic monitoring system. The dynamic characteristics of the tower are possibly dependent on the amplitude of excitation/response.
