Naples and Natural Disasters: An Inquiry in the Field of Art-Historical Disaster Research

Elisabetta Scirocco

Pompeo Sarnelli, Guida de’ forestieri curiosi di vedere […] le cose più notabili […] di Napoli, Naples 1685, pp. 402-403 with engravings by Giovanna Dorotea Pesche. On the left, incipit of the chapter on Vesuvius, with a view of the bay of Naples with the volcano. On the right, the monument erected in Portici by Viceroy Emanuele Fonseca Zunica, Count of Monterey, with the inscription commemorating the eruption of 1631 and warning posterity to take cover at the first signs of Vesuvius’ awakening. (Bibliotheca Hertziana: Be4015-4320 raro). — Pompeo Sarnelli, *Guida de’ forestieri curiosi di vedere […] le cose più notabili […] di Napoli,* Naples 1685, pp. 402-403 with engravings by Giovanna Dorotea Pesche. On the left, *incipit* of the chapter on Vesuvius, with a view of the bay of Naples with the volcano. On the right, the monument erected in Portici by Viceroy Emanuele Fonseca Zunica, Count of Monterey, with the inscription commemorating the eruption of 1631 and warning posterity to take cover at the first signs of Vesuvius’ awakening. (Bibliotheca Hertziana: Be4015-4320 raro).

Pompeo Sarnelli, *Guida de’ forestieri curiosi di vedere […] le cose più notabili […] di Napoli,* Naples 1685, pp. 402-403 with engravings by Giovanna Dorotea Pesche. On the left, *incipit* of the chapter on Vesuvius, with a view of the bay of Naples with the volcano. On the right, the monument erected in Portici by Viceroy Emanuele Fonseca Zunica, Count of Monterey, with the inscription commemorating the eruption of 1631 and warning posterity to take cover at the first signs of Vesuvius’ awakening. (Bibliotheca Hertziana: Be4015-4320 raro).

Since the early modern period, the narrative of Naples has been marked by the experience and fear of catastrophe. Both the palimpsest-like form of the city itself and the historical and artistic descriptions of Naples reveal the ruptures of history, the vulnerability of the urban fabric, and the threat of nature. In cyclical recurrence, extreme natural events like earthquakes and volcano eruptions have triggered transformations of the city that can be explained in terms of reactions to the disaster such as acceptance, resilience, and resistance. Many (re)constructions of places of worship and representative buildings, the birth of new religious cults, as well as the institutionalization of new rituals and traditions are related to this crucial aspect of the city’s history. Drawing on historical disaster research, the project examines disaster response as an identity-forming component of urbanism, architecture, and art in Naples from an art historical perspective.
Over the past three years, this research project, in collaboration with the Institute’s Library and the ERC DisComPoSE research group at the Federico II University of Naples, has produced a digital exhibition and a volume focused on the Bibliotheca Hertziana’s collection of rare books (dating from the late 15th to the early 20th century) dealing with volcanoes in the Phlegraean and Mediterranean area. The rich collection analyzed attests to the importance of the Neapolitan area as the center for an enormous production of texts and images related to these natural phenomena through the centuries: from the interest of early European travelers in the thermal phenomena of the Phlegraean area, through the global explosion of information and stories sparked by the sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1631, to the development of modern mineralogy and volcanology and the travel experiences of the grand tour.