THE LONG HISTORY OF THE URBAN CENTRE AND THE TERRITORY OF POZZUOLI PORT CITY THROUGH NATURAL CATASTROPHES AND ITS EXTRAORDINARY RESILIENCE

Abstract

Taking into account the results of a previous research of the Mediterranean port-towns in the South of
Italy, and some studies on the earthquakes of November 1980 and June 2009, and their effects on the
historical centres (destruction and reconstruction in situ), the paper presents a rare example of the
long-lasting resilience that enabled a port city to react to a long series of disasters and rebuildings:
Pozzuoli in the Campania Region (Italy). The aim of the paper is to connect and combine in the urban
history of Pozzuoli two strands of historical analysis: Mediterranean port city research and disaster
and resilience studies. In this perspective, the paper examines the long sequence of terrible disasters
from antiquity to contemporary age and stress that, from the day immediately following them, there
has been a continuity of life and even an improvement of economic activities. The attention is given
to three major disasters and the rebuilding and reconstruction of port and infrastructures, by means of
iconographic and cartographic sources.
Keywords: port city, disasters, resilience