Issue 51

F. Clementi et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 51 (2020) 313-335; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.51.24 316 The clock tower dates back to the Middle Ages and there are few historical data about it, since as early as 1293 it was mentioned in ancient documents. The limited historical information reveals that the belfry was built adjacent to the Church of Santa Lucia. In 1684 the feudal lord Alessandro Maria Orsini decided to extend the square and the main street of the city centre. For this reason, the body of the church was destroyed and the tower was modified, with the reinforce of the base and the construction of the annex on its two sides. Figure 3 : Drawings of the consolidation of the North façade (a), East façade (b), South façade (c), West façade (d) of the Amatrice civic clock tower of the 80s. In 1979, the earthquake of the Alta Valnerina (Central Italy) struck the bell tower, with subsequent relevant damages. Therefore, at the beginning of the 80s, the latest retrofitting works were carried out (see Fig. 3). During those restoration works cracks formed due to the weight of the original ancient bell of 1494, thus it was replaced with a lighter bell to remove the high oscillations, about 20 cm wide, of the vertical structure as in the past. However, the original bell is preserved inside the Church of Madonna of Porta Ferrata. Moreover, the civic clock tower of Amatrice is about 25 m high and it has a rectangular plant, with long sides of 4.00 m x 5.30 m. As visible in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the North and the East façade have deeper base due to the inclination of the ground, respectively of 1.5 m and 0.60 m. The entrance to the tower is accessible through the annex, in which are placed the stairs to the upper floors. These stairs are built within the masonry; thus, they were recreated in the 3D discrete models (see Fig. 11).