The card: the Mugello earthquake

FLORENCE. The earthquakes in Tuscany are closer to the fault that occurred in 1542 than to the one that caused the 1919 earthquake, the earthquakes in Tuscany, in Mugello, as explained by the director of the National Earthquake Observatory of the Institute National Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv), Salvatore Stramondo, in light of the analyzes conducted so far. "There are still no certain elements – Stramondo observed – to establish that it is the same fault that was activated in 1542 causing an earthquake of magnitude estimated around 6.0. What we currently notice is that the earthquakes in progress occur near the affected area in 1542, just 8-10 kilometers to the North-West ".Yes, because there are two historical earthquakes in Mugello. one dates back to 1542, of magnitude 6, and one to 1919 which caused one hundred deaths.

June 13, 1542

The whole Mugello was struck, from Vicchio to Barberino, with tremors of magnitude 6. the most serious destruction was in Scarperia. Many chronicles of the time dealt with it and the news arrived in many European countries. According to these reports, the number of victims is between one hundred and two hundred. But some report a greater number of victims.

The map of historical earthquakes of Mugello (from M.Baratta, Iterremoti Italian)

June 29, 1919

Shortly after 10 am on a sunny Sunday, there was a shock between the seventh and ninth grade on the Mercalli scale with its epicenter in Vicchio where half of the buildings collapsed and there were about forty victims. Dicomano, among the most affected municipalities, Borgo San Lorenzo, San Godenzo, Marradi, Firenzuola, Scarperia, Barberino, Londa, San Godenzo and partly also Rufina and Pontassieve.
Reliefs immediately reached the towns of the lower Mugello and were organized quite well while in the distant Apennine hamlets and in the remote farmhouses of Alto Mugello and Santerno many people remained under the rubble and were found only after days. Serious damage also affected dozens of places located on the Romagna side of the Apennines.