April 30, 1279 Earthquake: Forli, Spoleto, Romagna, Marche, Bologna, Italy

According to the historical sources, we are aware of the damage due to earthquakes in the Camerino Lordship as early as 1279 C.E., when the town was struck in April by an Mw 6.2 earthquake. Although damage was severe in the town (Is 8–9 MCS), where towers, belltowers, and two-third of the house roofs collapsed with the deaths of many people (Monachesi et al., 2019), the 1279 epicentral region was 20 km away from Camerino, close to the Apennines divide, in an area matching the September 1997 sequence (Mw ∼ 6:0), as suggested in Galadini et al. (1999). (reference #13725)

Evidence from sources closest to the event suggest that a strong earthquake occurred on 30 April 1279, affecting a vast area of the Apennines in Umbria and the Marche (central Italy), corresponding to the present-day provinces of Perugia, Macerata and Acona. Durng the night of 30 April - 1 May, there was another earthquake in theborder area of the Romagna region. In spite of the proximity of time and space, the two events are clearly distinguishable. The worst affected localities were Camerino […] and Serravalle di Chienti […] There was also serious damage at Nocera Umbra […] Substantial damage occurred at Cingoli, Fabriano, Matelica, San Severino Marche and Spello. (reference #10420)