The Collapse and Restoration of the Church of Saint Mary of Itria in Piazza Armerina (Sicily, Italy)

The paper illustrates the damages occurred to masonry buildings due to incorrect consolidation interventions dated back to the 1980s that, according to the culture of the time, were oriented to the replacement of structural elements with new heavy ones, thus changing the static scheme. The case study concerns the seventeenth century church of Saint Mary of Itria in Piazza Armerina, affected in 2007 by the collapse of the one side wall of the apse. After illustrating the historical evolution and the actual state of the building, the investigations carried out to identify the causes of collapse and provide for appropriate reconstruction interventions are reported. The results of hydro-geologi…