Static behaviour of an Italian Medieval Castle: Damage assessment by numerical modelling

The paper offers a contribution to the issue of modelling and analysis of architectural heritage through the discussion of an illustrative case study: the Italian Medieval Castle of San Niccolò (Toscana, Italy). In the past the castle exhibited a wide damage, and to prevent its ruination, restoration works were executed in the eighties of the last century. Using the finite element technique, a 3D numerical model of the castle has been built that has been used to identify the main sources of the damages and assess the effectiveness of the restoration works. The paper shows that advanced numerical analyses could offer significant information both for the understanding of the causes of existing damage and the minimum and adequate design of strengthening. The understanding of the structural behaviour can indeed reduce the extent of the remedial measures, offering efficient strengthening tools.