Messina: Story of a town" expert" on earthquakes: Via risorgimento, a palimpsest of "anti-seismic" building systems

Abstract

The tragic earthquake of 1908 affects the area of the Strait already strongly proven in previous centuries and with its destructions, first, and reconstructions, after, makes the city of Messina a field of verification of previous construction solutions and experimentation of "innovative" technical, new methods of calculation and ad hoc regulations. Through archival documents, technical reports, publications of the time, standards issued for reconstruction, the article analyses the pre and post earthquake situation of 1908, with particular attention to the composition of lands, sub−layers, foundations and of the struc− tures in elevation. In particular, it lingers on the Via Risorgimento area, which has a rich palimpsest of techniques and shrewdness of that period.