Catastrofi e ricostruzioni: il contributo della storia

About of the great catastrophes due to earthquakes, the historian’s task is to understand the processes and the reasons that lead to the urban reconstruction. The urban plan and architectural projects are an indispensable weapon for each renewal strategy, while the architecture and technology can even exorcise the fear of catastrophe and prevention the recurrence of certain effects through the innovations and measures imposed by the scientific development. Projects do not always succeed, the history of reconstruction has always been a history of élites, their contractual power and their ability to broaden the agreement. The choice of language olso plays a major role in reconstruction. In the modern age, modernity, grandly, ornamental display of wealth, aspiration to the uniformity, to the "universal decoration" are characteristics shared by the history of reconstruction after the earthquake. Some experiences in one place after the disaster were certainly taken into consideration in other stricken cities by earthquakes, it is justified according to three main factors: the spread of urban legislation between the fifteenth and sixteenth century that involves distant centers and also governs the changes into an emergency regime after earthquakes; the military engineers’ mobility, their involvement in the construction or reconstruction of the city; the great proliferation of informations occurring from the sixteenth century through cartography and printing. Observing the catastrophes’ effects and studying the survivors works, the story may ultimately suggest at the restoration and at the seismic technology a compact repertory of experiences and solutions against the threat of earthquakes.