The Belice Valley before and after the earthquake of 15 January 1968, to tell, through images, the impact that this tragedy has had on those places up until today. The exhibition Seismic landscapes - Il Belice 50 years after the earthquake, set up by INGV, will be inaugurated on 12 September in Catania
The exhibition "Seismic Landscapes - Il Belice 12 years after the earthquake", organized by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), in collaboration with the Central Library of the Region, will be inaugurated on Wednesday 50 September at the Benedictine Monastery of Catania Sicilian Alberto Bombace, the Universities of Palermo and Catania, the Belicina Natural and Museum Network and the Palermo Academy of Fine Arts.
The inauguration ceremony opens the work of the eighty-ninth Congress of the Italian Geological Society and of the Italian Society of Mineralogy and Petrology.
"Fifty years after the seismic sequence that shook south-western Sicily, in what went down in history as the Belice Earthquake", explains INGV researcher Paolo Madonia, "INGV could not fail to remember what was the first great earthquake in republican Italy and, unfortunately, the first of a long series which, through Friuli, Irpinia, Umbria, L'Aquila and Emilia reaches the days of Amatrice. The idea behind this exhibition", continues Madonia "is to convey a story, as complete as possible of that event, to illustrate what the 1968 earthquake was, what the Belice area was like before the earthquake, what has become today and therefore how this event has changed the course of things. To this end, we have created this exhibition itinerary, designed for a vast audience of students, tourists, citizens and even specialists".
The Belìce earthquake was the first earthquake seen by Italians on television. The main event of 15 January, of magnitude 6.4, was anticipated by a strong quake the previous day and followed by other aftershocks until the following 25 January; overall, there were five events of magnitude between 5.0 and 5.5. Of the fifteen towns involved, ten were most affected and, among these, four destroyed: Gibellina, Montevago, Salaparuta and Poggioreale.
"Among the works on display", explains Mario Mattia, INGV researcher, "it is possible to observe some photos taken from the large archive of the Palermo newspaper "L'Ora", the historic Sicilian newspaper which between 1900 and 1992 was an observer and critic of everything that happened in Sicily. “Those photos”, continues the researcher, “selected on the basis of the themes that the various panels of the exhibition deal with, are the heart of the exhibition itself”.
There are many organizations that have participated in this initiative, the result of a multidisciplinary synergy.
“A valuable network of collaborations has made this experience possible” adds Paolo Madonia. "The Central Library of the Sicilian Region Alberto Bombace", continues the researcher, "has allowed the use of the large photographic archive of the newspaper "L'Ora", the Universities of Palermo and Catania have provided a scientific contribution of primary importance on aspects that ranging from geology to urban planning, passing through the studies of agronomy and sociology, while the contribution of the Natural Network and the Belicina Museum has made it possible to highlight the potential of that territory. Fundamental then", concludes Madonia, "the contribution of the Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo, which developed, together with a motivated group of students, the graphic and visual communication project that made this exhibition pleasant to follow and to look at" .
The exhibition will remain open to the public at the Benedictine Monastery of Catania until 14 September, the closing day of the Congress. It will then be transferred to various locations: from 5 to 31 October at the Central Library of the Sicilian Region Alberto Bombace in Palermo. Subsequently, until the end of the Christmas holidays and the end of the year, installations will be carried out in some of the centers of the Belicino district affected by the seismic sequence of 1968.
Rome, 10 September 2018
Photo 1 – Calatafimi, The faces of Belice, from the archive of the newspaper "L'Ora" of Palermo
Photo 2 – The faces of Belice, from the archive of the newspaper "L'Ora" of Palermo
Photo 3 - Effects of the earthquake in Poggioreale, from the archive of the Palermo newspaper "L'Ora".