A seismic assessment method conceived for historical buildings, and especially
focused on older churches, is presented. The relevant evaluation analysis is articulated on a series
of performance levels formulated to this aim, and developed by linear finite element models,
or models with localised non-linearities. The application to a demonstrative case study, represented
by a fourteenth-century church, highlights unsatisfactory response capacities of this
building with respect to the proposed criteria. A base-isolation seismic retrofit hypothesis, previously
elaborated without precise performance objectives, is then re-examined for this church
so as to reach the assumed levels. The silicone fluid-viscous devices included in this intervention
hypothesis are dimensioned by a general design procedure, recently proposed within the
same research project.
