Abstract

The current Italian Building Code provides tables with standard values of the mechanical characteristics of existing masonry. These tables refer to specific typologies, as described, according to masonry texture. As experience suggests, the way in which the masonry is built up could really affect its structural behaviour, both in terms of mechanical properties and failure mechanisms. Furthermore, the code entrusts each Region to improve and better define these mechanical characteristics, specifically in areas where they could be regarded as homogeneous, in order to improve definitions of the quality, the behaviour and the mechanical properties with a higher degree of precision and knowledge. Valtellina, located in the north of the Lombardy region and in the middle of the Alps, can be regarded as a homogeneous area because of its specific masonry, built up with hard rock stones and weak lime mortar. The available in–situ experimental data about this masonry typology, achieved through MDTs and NDTs, was collected, implemented and improved with additional tests to identify the relevant mechanical properties. This was aimed to classify and structurally identify this specific regional masonry typology, never analysed before.