The Historical Center of Casertavecchia: Knowledge, Preservation and Valorization

Small historic centers constitute a significant part of Italy’s built heritage, whose preservation is crucial not only from cultural perspectives but also from social and economic ones. This paper, developed within the research project “GeNeSis”—GestioNE del rischio SISmico per la valorizzazione turistica del Mezzogiorno—focuses on the ancient village of Casertavecchia (CE), the earliest settlement of the modern city of Caserta, whose architectural, environmental and landscape values have enjoyed legal protection since 1960. A multidisciplinary approach is adopted, highlighting the interplay between architectural and structural investigations and the principles of preservation. Building constitution, morphology, and construction phases were reconstructed through the integration of stratigraphic and chrono-typological analyses of local historic masonry wall types. From a structural standpoint, geometrical features, aggregate construction typologies, and roof systems were examined. Given the complexity of seismic behavior in aggregate buildings—arising from both the vulnerability of individual units and their interaction with adjoining structures—the analysis should consider not only the global response of the building in the cluster but also potential local collapse mechanisms affecting limited portions of the structure.