The mechanical behaviour of spandrels has a very significant influence on the seismic capacity of URM multi-storey buildings, which are very common in the historical Italian towns. In this paper the seismic behaviour of masonry spandrels is investigated, in case of a horizontal tensile-resistant element exists at floor level. At this aim experimental tests have been performed on reduced scale (1:10) models of spandrels, made of both tuff masonry and homogeneous material. The specimens have been built using different arrangements of masonry, corresponding to different construction techniques adopted during the time (from XVII up to XX century). The experimental equipment has been purposely designed in order to appropriately reproduce the structural behaviour of spandrels when masonry wall is subjected to horizontal forces acting in their own plane. The observed failure mechanisms and the corresponding M-c curves are reported for all the adopted slenderness ratio and masonry arrangements. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the cyclical performance of this kind of masonry panels, the results of cyclic tests have been analyzed in detail in terms of maximum strength, stiffness at reloading and energy dissipation.
