Abstract:

The earthquake occurred in Abruzzo Italian region on 6 April 2009, has proposed one more the problem of the definition of suitable strategies for seismic risk mitigation on a territorial scale; it cannot be happened by chance that existing buildings have fallen at every earthquake.
In the first inventory of the urban centers in Umbria after earthquake of 26 September 1997 is written that entire old town centers collapse as houses of cards hit by an earthquake not particularly severe when compared with seismic events that over the centuries occurred in Italy center: these are episodes of an already written history.
The Abruzzo landscape, characterized by a system of small urban centers only made up of historical construction, represents on the whole an important monument to preserve. The issue of its protection is faced on the basis of multidisciplinary research and approach.
A global revision of protection politics is needed for buildings that, at different level and ways of aggregation, forms the historical centers.
Experience show that their integrity has vanished even when rehabilitation works have been carried out in recent times ant points out that strategies of risk mitigation, based only on static criteria of reinforcement of single residential units are, are inadequate.
The analysis of damage suffered by building on the occasion of the last earthquake in Italy, shows how safety cannot come off leaving out of consideration preservation criteria; risk mitigation design, apparently hovered between safety and preservation, finds in the culture of restoration effective principles of safety.
The reconnaissance and the reworking of researches present in literature about historical centers (practical codes and recovery manuals) showed needing to deepen the relationships between urban morphology, construction typology and seismic behavior of building.
Starting from some purposeful experiences about the knowledge instruments for historical buildings investigation (in particular the research on territory of Castel del Monte “minor” center starting by studies concerning Recovery Manual and the Nocera Umbra historical center vulnerability analysis) the paper points out the methodological approach followed.

Keywords:

Preservation Design, Historical Centers, Vulnerability analysis.