July 17, 1879 Earthquake: Italy

Date

July 17, 1879

Place

Italy

Intensity

10 on the Modified Mercalli scale

Tsunami

None recorded

Epicenter

37.500° N, 15.000° E

Country

Italy

Deaths

10

Damage

Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

• December 28, 1908, Messina, Sicily, Calabria, ItalyM7 · 80,000 deaths · $116 million · 90 km
• January 9, 1693, Sicily, Calabria, Catania, ItalyM6 · 60,000 deaths · 972 houses destroyed · 24 km
• January 11, 1693, Sicily, Calabria, ItalyM7.4 · 54,000 deaths · 41 km
• February 5, 1783, Tyrrhenian Calabria, ItalyM6.9 · 30,000 deaths · 123 km
• February 4, 1169, Siracusa (Syracuse), Calabria, Sicily, Italy16,000 deaths · 22 km
• 1137, Catania, Sicily, Italy15,000 deaths · 24 km
• August 6, 1757, Siracusa (Syracuse), Italy10,000 deaths · 56 km
• November 5, 1659, Panaija, Soriano, Polia, Italy2,035 deaths · 175 km
• February 6, 1783, Messina Straits, ItalyM5.9 · 1,500 deaths · 97 km
• 1086, Siracusa (Syracuse), Italy1,000 deaths · 62 km
• January 21, 1065, Catania,messina,milazzo,pale, Sicily, Italy975 deaths · 67 km
• September 8, 1905, Monteleone, Tropea, Monte Poro, ItalyM7.1 · 557 deaths · 6,700 houses destroyed · 160 km
• June 19, 1640, Badolato, Italy300 deaths · 179 km
• September 1, 1726, Palermo, Marsala, Mazzara, Italy250 deaths · 1,614 houses destroyed · 160 km
• January 15, 1968, Sicily, ItalyM6 · 216 deaths · $320 million · 173 km

Significant earthquakes of 1879The 1800sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 2273.