The project presents a methodology based on a highly interdisciplinary approach which allows a complete analysis and documentation of the cases identified and, later, a wide range of technical/scientific and historical-archaeological results.

In particular, the methodological activities may be included within the following three macro-areas:

• Historical/architectural and archaeoseismological investigations: the first step in the research will be systematically collating knowledge on later medieval earthquakes in Siena, with special attention to the 1467 earthquake, starting from the analysis of the most recent publications. This material will constitute an initial geological, geomorphological, seismo-tectonic, historical and seismological overview of the city of Siena. This project will be distinguished by the identification and archaeological interpretation of historical buildings using the methodologies of the archaeology of architecture  which, by means of a detailed stratigraphical analysis of the individual case studies, will lead to an identification of the relative chronology of the stages of construction related to constructive/destructive operations with a subsequent periodization of the construction phases and to a characterization of the “traditional” and the “anomalous” construction systems present in the buildings.

• 3D architectural surveys: an analysis of seismic risk needs a precise and accurate graphic base. The process of analysis will be recorded and documented using Laser Scanner and Structure from Motion survey techniques that will allow detailed documentation of the buildings and features held to be of interest. The 3D information itself offers the possibility of systematizing the entire research investigation, and creating a single network on which all the information from the various types of analysis can be managed.

• Structural, mechanical and seismological analyses: along with the survey and archaeoseismic analysis, a structural study of the buildings will also be conducted, characterized by the observation of specific forms of vulnerability present in the buildings, and the research of elements that represent conditions of local weakness in the structure that may influence the damage process, favoring or inhibiting it or directing it towards particular modes of damage.