ELECTRIC SOLDANI. FASHIONABLE EARTHQUAKE THEORIES IN LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TUSCANY

Abstract

Ambrogio Soldani wrote on earthquakes only once, after Siena was struck by one in May 1798. Unlike Soldani’s earlier works, the Relazione del terremoto accaduto in Siena il dì 26 Maggio 1798 is not original either for what concerns the seismogenic theory underlying it or the treatment of data. However, it gives the first systematic overview ever made of historical seismicity in the Sienese district. Thus, even in the field of descriptive seismology, Soldani managed to become a groundbreaker, after all.