Seismic history of the church of San Pietro di Coppito in L’Aquila

After the terrible eighteenth century earthquakes (L'Aquila, 1703; Lisbon, 1755; Reggio Calabria, 1783), specific anti-seismic precepts were introduced in the rules of the art of masonry construction. Scrupulously adhered to in the first years after the earthquake, those precepts gradually ceased to be used until they were almost completely forgotten, centuries later, by which time the earthquake had become a distant memory. The church of San Pietro di Coppito, one of the most important churches of L’Aquila, is emblematic of this singular process. Deeply transformed in accordance with new anti-seismic construction techniques after it was particularly badly damaged in the terrible 1703 earthquake, the church was subjected, in the 1970s, to drastic alterations by the Commissioner Mario Moretti, who demolished all the baroque additions and redesigned it in the “medieval Abruzzo” style, eliminating in the process the intelligent anti-seismic provisions introduced in the eighteenth century. In addition to documentary purposes, this work aims to underline the effectiveness of this early eighteenth century example of anti-seismic engineering in the belief that the constructive solutions it employed could still form a valid architectural and structural model in view of the massive restoration task which, unfortunately, still today, L’Aquila is waiting for.