The seismic vulnerability of a historical Basilica church located in Italy is studied by means of limit analysis and nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis. Attention is posed to the failure mechanisms involving the fa？ade of the church and its interaction with the lateral walls. In particular, the limit analysis and the nonlinear FE analysis provide an estimate of the load collapse multiplier of the failure mechanisms. Results obtained from both approaches are in agreement and can support the selection of possible retrofitting measures to decrease the vulnerability of the church under seismic loads. 1. Introduction Recent Italian seismic events, such as the Emilia (2012) and the L’Aquila earthquakes (2009), have demonstrated how churches are susceptible to damage when subjected to earthquake motions [1–3]. In fact, designed to withstand vertical loads, churches in general present slender walls, lack of horizontal structures, weak or nonexistent connections among structural elements, absence of effective tie-rods to absorb arch thrusts [4], and irregular stone texture. These aspects, added to poor material performance especially in tensile stress mode [5], are among the reasons for the structural collapses of historical monumental buildings when subjected to seismic forces. Cases of damaged or collapsed churches after earthquake events (sometimes also immediately after their renovations) are numerous. It is worthwhile to remember the collapse of St. Possidonio church (Italy) in 2012, the partial collapse of the church of Santiago in Lorca (Spain) in 2011, the collapse of the Catholic Cathedral of Port au Prince in Haiti in 2010 (right after its total restoration), and the partial collapse of the main church in St. Pietro di Coppito (Italy) in 2009, after consistent work of conservation. In the literature, the approaches employed to analyze the seismic behaviour of masonry structures can be summarized as follows: micromodeling approaches (see e.g., [6, 7]), macromodeling approaches (see e.g., [8]), multiscale approaches (see e.g., [9]), and full-scale approaches (see e.g., [10–14]). Among these methods, the most suitable to determine the seismic vulnerability of masonry buildings are the latters that correspond to limit analysis and nonlinear FE analysis [15, 16]. Both approaches aim at providing the value of the load that activates the failure mechanisms of the macroelements in which the church can be subdivided. In fact, the behavior at collapse of a masonry church under a seismic event is rarely global since several out-of-plane collapses of
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