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This article will focus a aspect wich concerns the way in which a traumatic and catastrophic effect, such as an earthquake, has triggered mechanisms of human circulation, between victims, rescuers and workers who change their residences to the point of remaining citizens of that territory, creating an osmotic diffusion of knowledge that feeds on both the knowledge and cultures of origin and those of reception.DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.28.2022.6

Abstract Understanding under which physical conditions large earthquakes begin, is a key question in Earth science. Laboratory experiments and numerical models have shown that earthquake nucleation has distinct phases: a quasi‐static and an acceleration stage, followed by dynamic propagation. However, obtaining observations of such or similar processes in nature is complex. Here, we report on the rupture initiation of the Mw 6.1 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. From the detailed analysis of seismic waves recorded at several stations, we identify an ∼0.6‐s signal preceding the large dynamic rupture. From the geometrical characterization and rupture parameters of this initial phase, we infer that the rupture struggled to initiate exhibiting a slow rupture velocity (Vr=0.9±0.2 km/s) and low seismic efficiency (η=0.24) due to a complex environment in the region where the rupture starts. We also show that the parameters of the rupture initiation are representative of scale‐dependent quantities for slip‐dependent nucleation models.

The Summer School dedicated to Digital Humanities (DH) for Art History, held between 27 June and 1 July 2022 at the Department of Excellence of the Department of Human Sciences (DSU Scienze Umane) of the University of L’Aquila, represented a singular opportunity for an in-depth snapshot of a discipline that, de facto, has only recently managed to carve out a defined space within academia. This, all the while for decades having been a fundamental component of many research institutes’ activities and at the same time acquiring a predominant role in the vast world of protection, enhancement and dissemination of cultural patrimony.

This paper, written for the Summer School at L’Aquila, gives a brief overview of the current status of the ongoing research project for the digital edition of the Monumenti storici artistici della città di Aquila e suoi contornicolle notizie de’ pittori scultori architetti ed altri artefici che vi fiorirono (L’Aquila, 1848) by Angelo Leosini (L’Aquila, 1818–1881), with particular attention to the task of text transcription and markup.

Il saggio propone una rilettura della storia politica dell’Aquila da metà Trecento a fine Quattrocento, per attribuire il giusto peso a tre attori politici: signori, sovrani, mercanti. Attraverso l’analisi di forme e procedure istituzionali, gruppi e articolazioni sociali e fazioni si rimarca la centralità dei mercanti nel delineare gli assetti politici e la rappresentanza, si illustrano le con- vergenze e le divergenze fra partes e gruppo dirigente, e la sinergia fra quest’ultimo e i signori cittadini. Tale sinergia fu essenziale per il controllo del contado – di cui si esamina il ruolo politico – e per la negoziazione con la monarchia, che permette di considerare quest’ultima come una risorsa per gli aquilani. In conclusione, si riprendono gli aspetti trattati per mettere in luce alcuni elementi della cultura politica aquilana.

The aim of the study is increase the knowledge about a remarkable palace in L’Aquila city center. Based on inedited archival sources and on an architectural survey, the study investigates the transformation phases and their stratification over time in order to let a complete reading of its values. Particular attention was paid to the reconstruction of the social and cultural context and to the historical and political dynamics causally connected to each transformation.

El encargo del retablo de La Visitación de Rafael, conservado en el Museo del Prado, estaba lastrado hasta ahora por profundas lagunas historiográficas a causa de la falta de documentos relativos a él. Este artículo, extracto de una investigación más amplia realizada por el autor como parte de su tesis de grado sobre el tema, centra su interés en la publicación de documentación inédita, enmarcada en la reconstrucción del marco histórico, social y devocional del propio encargo. A través de la contextualización de los documentos hallados, el artículo reconstruye la identidad del comitente y ofrece los elementos cronológicos que permiten una correcta datación de la obra.

The commission of Raphael’s Visitation altarpiece, now in the Prado, has been burdened by historiographic gaps due to the lack of documents pertaining to it. This article is an excerpt from a more extensive research project carried out by the author as part of his undergraduate dissertation on the topic. The article focuses on making public previously unpublished documents, with an aim to establish the historical, social and devotional context of the commission. Through the contextualization of the new sources available, the article defines the true identity of the patron and offers a restricted timeframe for the correct dating of the painting.

The proposed job concerns the evaluation of a series of surveys carried out in the context of a campaign of studies begun in 2015 with the objective of comparing the accuracies obtainable with the systems of terrestrial imaging, compared to unmanned aerial vehicle imaging and laser scanner survey. In particular, the authors want to test the applicability of a system of imaging rover (IR), an innovative terrestrial imaging system, that consists of a multi-camera with integrated global positioning system (GPS)/global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, that is very recently released technique, and only a few literature references exist on the specific subject. In detail, the IR consists of a total of 12 calibrated cameras – seven “panorama” and five downward-looking – providing complete site documentation that can potentially be used to make photogrammetric measurements. The data acquired in this experimentation were then elaborated with various software packages in order to obtain point clouds and a three-dimensional model in different cases, and a comparison of the various results obtained was carried out. Following, the case study of the Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila is reported; Collemaggio is an UNESCO world heritage site; it was damaged during the seismic event of 2009, and its restoration is still in progress.

Nel 1962 Enrico Crispolti inaugura, presso il Forte Cinquecentesco dell'Aquila, la prima edizione della rassegna "Alternative Attuali", proponendo un nuovo modello di mostra collettiva: non una semplice rassegna di artisti diversi, ma la proposta di un dialogo fra diverse posizioni (le "alternative") volte al superamento dell'Informale. Con il modello della "mostra-saggio", arricchita da un dibattito in catalogo, veniva per la prima volta applicata una idea espositiva che mettesse in prospettiva critica (e in proiezione storica) la situazione presente.

De octubre 2008 a abril 2009: Se produjo un enjambre sísmico en Abruzzo, Italia. 30 de marzo: Un sismo de 4,0 indujo al Alcalde de L’Aquila a evacuar edificios públicos; la población estaba nerviosa. 31 de marzo: El gobierno italiano convocó a la Comisión de Riesgos Mayores para reunirse con las autoridades locales; el vocero informó al público: “…no hay razón para pensar que el enjambre sea precursor de un evento mayor…”. 6 de abril: Terremoto M 6,3; 309 muertos, 1.500 heridos, 67.000 personas perdieron sus viviendas; destrucción de edificios en el centro histórico, residencias estudiantiles y un hospital. Paralelamente, un técnico de laboratorio sin calificación científica, mediante la medición de emisiones de Radón en el terreno, publicó un indicador y su correlación con un sismo próximo. Aunque en este caso “acertó”, la prensa olvidó todos sus desaciertos anteriores. Seis expertos y el subjefe de Protección Civil fueron acusados de homicidio culposo, entre otros cargos por: Haber realizado una valoración aproximada y ambigua del riesgo y decir que los datos no permitían concluir que el enjambre fuese premonitor del terremoto. La sentencia es un precedente que podría desembocar en un proceso de inversión infinita de recursos para la predicción de eventos que no pueden predecirse, en lugar de enfocarse en la responsabilidad compartida de la gestión del riesgo: Comités de alto nivel, autoridades, protección civil, prensa, científicos, población, constructores y jueces.

One of the principal merits of the Guidelines for mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings issued by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee/ IASC has been that of attributing a psychosocial value to all those functions considered “less noble” in such post-emergency settings as rescue camps – the socalled basic functions. Indeed, a series of psychic connotations is inherent in all the issues relating to nutrition and safety in alimentation, the logistic of the management of post-emergency gathering points, and the water supply and the hygienic services. These psychic connotations are mainly due to the special nature of the circumstance, in which such fundamental functions necessarily have many features of strong social sharing. This article focuses on these basic functions. In particular, it discusses the way they appeared and have been dealt with during the emergency caused by the earthquake that hit L’Aquila on the 6th of April 2009. To this end, it will be attempted to do a review of all of the basic functions highlighted by the IASC’s Guidelines, analyzing the psychosocial aspects implicated in them and offering a range of operative instructions on how to protect the mental health of people in these aspects as well as others.

During the G8 meeting in L'Aquila in July 2009, the Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi gifted the leaders with L’invenzione della bellezza (The invention of beauty), a ‘monstre’ book published by Marilena Ferrari-FMR. The article focuses on both the physical description of this book and, above all, on its value as an emblem of the Berlusconian era in which communication becomes the absolute value in aesthetics as in politics.

Five years after the earthquake in Abruzzo in 2009 it is possible to draw up a first balance sheet of the public actions carried out so far in relation to reconstruction. The transformations undergone by L’Aquila and the territory of Abruzzo impose a re-reading of the institutional framework and of the role that the Plan can have in addressing the conflicts deriving from the physical and social reconstruction of the regional capital. But the joint presence of many and various litigious actors makes it complex to adopt a new season of projects able to make the most of the substantial public financing and to direct this towards agreed models of urban development. Moreover a comparison with the effectiveness of public actions that may be observed in analogous cases in the urban history of L’Aquila makes the picture even more alarming.

This work reports a first attempt to use Landsat satellite imagery to identify possible urban microclimate changes in a city center after a seismic event that affected L’Aquila City (Abruzzo Region, Italy), on 6 April 2009. After the main seismic event, the collapse of part of the buildings, and the damaging of most of them, with the consequence of an almost total depopulation of the historic city center, may have caused alterations to the microclimate. This work develops an inexpensive work flow—using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) scenes—to construct the evolution of urban land use after the catastrophic main seismic event that hit L’Aquila. We hypothesized, that, possibly, before the event, the temperature was higher in the city center due to the presence of inhabitants (and thus home heating); while the opposite case occurred in the surrounding areas, where new settlements of inhabitants grew over a period of a few months. We decided not to look to independent meteorological data in order to avoid being biased in their investigations; thus, only the smallest dataset of Landsat ETM+ scenes were considered as input data in order to describe the thermal evolution of the land surface after the earthquake. We managed to use the Landsat archive images to provide thermal change indications, useful for understanding the urban changes induced by catastrophic events, setting up an easy to implement, robust, reproducible, and fast procedure.