The damage observed during seismic events occurred in Italy over the years pointed out the seismic vulnerability of existing masonry buildings. A significant percentage of the Italian masonry building stock was built before the introduction of seismic provisions and the design relied essentially on the experience of practitioners. Both local and global failures of these buildings were observed during post-earthquake surveys, depending on their main features (e.g., geometrical configurations and material mechanical properties). The results of such post-earthquake inspections that followed the seismic events occurred in Italy over the last 50 years, were catalogued by the Italian Department of Civil Protection in the Da.D.O. platform (Database di Danno Osservato - Observed Damage Database). Starting from the data available in Da.D.O., the main features of the masonry buildings damaged during the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake were analysed to develop a representative masonry building portfolio. These buildings were then analysed from a global perspective to identify the main sources of vulnerability and to evaluate the effectiveness of rapid visual screening (RVS) procedures available in the literature. The preliminary results reported in this study demonstrate the need for an improvement of existing RVS procedures, so that they can work as an effective tool to prioritise the most vulnerable buildings and to assist decision makers in the implementation of seismic risk reduction strategies.