Performance of a school hosted within a historical complex affected by the 2016 seismic sequence

Immediately after the August 24th, 2016, earthquake in Central Italy, universities have been asked to inspect schools and assess their usability, under the coordination of ReLUIS (Rete Laboratori Universitari Ingegneria Sismica = Earthquake Engineering University Laboratories Network). Later on, about one hundred schools deemed as unfit to use have been evaluated in order to establish if it was possible to repair them before September 2017 or if it was more appropriate to build a new school. Among investigated buildings there are not only those in the epicentral area, but also some located even 30-45 km from the epicentres of the main events. One of those is the music high school located in Teramo, Abruzzi region, housed within the former monastery of San Giovanni a Scorzone established in 1384. The seismic vulnerability of the building was investigated in 2014 according to the Italian Building Standard. Based on the documentation produced therein, observations made after the August event, and a new inspection carried out in December 2016, the building has been assessed according to the procedure proposed after the Emilia 2012 Earthquakes. Despite ground shaking not being very severe, due to high vulnerability, the performance was that of a damage level 2 (damage between significant and severe), with important distress to non-structural elements. Such performances call into question the suitability of housing critical functions in historical buildings that, however, can suffer an accelerated decay if left unused and, thus, unmaintained.