ABSTRACT
Italian historical heritage is largely made up of the "ancient" masonry buildings that are characterized by high seismic vulnerability, thus causing high seismic risk even in small historical towns. The seismic behavior of the typology of construction is almost always ruled by the out of the plane mechanisms, because of the lack of effective connections between facade walls, floors and transverse walls, giving rise to very high vulnerability to horizontal loads. In Italy the seismic risk represents a fundamental research topic: in fact the catastrophic effects of the seismic events of the last decades highlighted the high vulnerability of the Italian historical towns. The declaration of "seismic zone" was usually related to the introduction of specific seismic rules. The masonry spandrels due to their very low shear resistance cannot be considered efficient regarding to the piers coupling during the seismic motion and have been modeled without any flexural and shear stiffness and strength.
