XLVI National Congress of the Italian Society for the History of Physics and Astronomy

Session

The Development of Meteorology and Volcanology

18 Sept 2026, 09:30

Palmieri Hall (Vesuvius Observatory)

Conveners

The Development of Meteorology and Volcanology

• Graziano Ferrari (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)

The Development of Meteorology and Volcanology

• Graziano Ferrari (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)

65. A historical perspective on bradyseism at Campi Flegrei caldera

Pappalardo, Lucia (INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano)

18/09/2026, 09:30

Meteorology and Volcanology

Campi Flegrei is one of the most emblematic volcanic areas in the world for the study of bradyseism, a phenomenon characterized by slow ground uplift and subsidence, often accompanied by seismicity, changes in hydrothermal activity, and variations in gas emissions. The historical record of vertical ground movements in the caldera is exceptionally long and well documented, thanks to...

70. Climate through the lens of the historical built environment: bridging early meteorological observations with microclimatic analysis at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence (1654–1670)

Bertolin, Chiara (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

18/09/2026, 10:10

Meteorology and Volcanology

The complex of Santa Maria degli Angeli, located in the historic center of Florence, Italy, represents one of the main stations of the observational network promoted by the Medici family in the second half of the seventeenth century (1654-1670).
This contribution builds on a previous research phase aimed at identifying - within the cloister - the plausible location where the two thermometers...

58. Atlas of Aetna (1845–61) by W. Sartorius von Waltershausen: The Birth of Modern Volcanological Cartography

Branca, Stefano (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)

18/09/2026, 11:20

Meteorology and Volcanology

The Atlas of Aetna, a monumental work by Prussian Baron Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen (1809–1876), professor of mineralogy and geology at the University of Göttingen, is universally recognized as the first and oldest geological map in the world entirely dedicated to a major active volcano. This work represents an absolute milestone in the history of Earth Sciences, marking the...

24. The market of meteorological instruments in southern Italy between the 18th and 19th centuries

De Frenza, Lucia (SISFA)

18/09/2026, 11:45

Meteorology and Volcanology

In southern Italy, the market for meteorological instruments in the 18th century was limited to the wealthy elite, physicians, and early observatories, which purchased their equipment from northern Italy, France, and Great Britain. However, some Neapolitan physicists designed new instruments themselves, such as Giovanni Maria della Torre, who in 1778 conceived a barometer and sent its design...

30. After the Casamicciola earthquakes (1881 and 1883): institutionalization and communication of geodynamics

Mandolesi, Alessia (INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)

18/09/2026, 12:10

Meteorology and Volcanology

After the Italian Unification, meteorology was rapidly organized on an institutional basis with the establishment of the Ufficio Centrale di Meteorologia (UCM). Geodynamics followed a different path: still an emerging discipline, it initially depended on the private initiative of researchers such as Michele Stefano De Rossi (1834-1898), who from 1873 promoted a national network of seismic...