This paper presents the application of an existing simplified displacement-based procedure to the
characterization of the nonlinear force-displacement relationship for the out-of-plane behaviour of
unreinforced traditional masonry walls. According to this procedure, tri-linear models based on three
different energy based criteria were constructed and confronted with three experimental tests on
existing stone masonry constructions. Moreover, a brief introduction is presented regarding the main
characteristics of the in situ cyclic testing recently carried out using distributed loads, as well as results
obtained during the experimental campaigns performed. The comparison between the experimental and the analytical results are presented and discussed
