{"id":24438,"date":"2026-10-14T16:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/englobe.eu\/teramos-capuchin-church-reopens-after-restoration-englobe\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T16:40:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:40:35","slug":"teramos-capuchin-church-reopens-after-restoration-englobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englobe.eu\/en\/teramos-capuchin-church-reopens-after-restoration-englobe\/","title":{"rendered":"Teramo\u2019s Capuchin Church Reopens After Restoration | ENGLOBE"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

What happened in Teramo on October 13?<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

The Capuchin Church was handed back to the city with an official ceremony and a solemn Mass.<\/strong> For three and a half years, the doors on Viale Mazzini had stayed shut. On Tuesday morning, Prefect Beatrice Agata Mariano returned the building to Bishop Lorenzo Leuzzi of the Diocese of Teramo-Atri. A press briefing at Palazzo di Governo, the Prefecture building, came before the service. Mayor Gianguido D\u2019Alberto attended the ceremony, along with representatives of the Public Works Authority, the Superintendency and the contractors who worked on site. Sunday Mass is back at 11 a.m., and the church is once again hosting funerals and weddings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Why had the church been closed?<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

The main problem was the roof.<\/strong> One of the nave trusses had failed, along with part of the secondary framing, and rain was coming through the clay tile roof in several places. Water had damaged the finishes near the triumphal arch and caused plaster detachment and mold in the presbytery and sacristies. On top of this came the cracking left by the 2009-2016 earthquake sequence. The building was closed in April 2023.<\/p>\n

Between September and October 2024, emergency work secured the roof. The failed truss was replaced with a new one in solid chestnut. New purlins and timber decking were installed, and the roof covering was relaid using the original clay tiles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

What kind of building is the Capuchin Church?<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

It began as a Benedictine complex, was reshaped by the Capuchins, and grew through successive layers.<\/strong> Historian Francesco Savini dates its construction to before the destruction of Teramo in 1153. After a brief Jesuit presence, the convent passed to the Capuchins in 1573. They turned the original three-aisled layout into a single nave. The left aisle became a passage to the convent, and the right aisle was divided into three small chapels. The Benedictine bell tower gave way to a bell gable. After the religious orders were suppressed in 1866, the convent became the Regina Margherita Orphanage, while the church remained open for worship.<\/p>\n

The walls tell this story better than any archive. On the facade, stone and solid brick at the base give way to large blocks of Gran Sasso rubble stone in the middle band, topped by a later brick extension. Up there, on a brick and on a roof beam, surveyors found dates carved by hand that place that work in the 1950s. On the northeast side, the masonry is three-leaf construction with stone faces and a rubble core, finished with plaster. The chapels are covered by cross vaults and the sacristies by lunette barrel vaults, both in thin brick laid on edge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

What investigations guided the design?<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

The design started from a direct understanding of the building.<\/strong> The masonry was studied with endoscopic surveys and flat-jack tests. Forestry specialist Dr. Lenzi graded the roof timbers in place under the UNI 11119 standard and identified them as Norway spruce. The structural assessment followed the Italian Building Code (NTC 2018) for a Use Class III building, with a 75-year reference period.<\/p>\n

Engineers analyzed the church with an equivalent frame model under static and seismic loads, both as found and as designed. A comprehensive analysis of local collapse mechanisms completed the assessment, as required by the 2011 Prime Ministerial Directive on seismic risk to cultural heritage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

What structural work was carried out?<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

The goal was seismic improvement: raising the level of safety without altering the historic fabric.<\/strong> The final design called for targeted measures, element by element.<\/p>\n