March 27, 1638 Tsunami: Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy

Name: March 27, 1638 Tsunami: Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy
Start: 1638-03-27
Location: Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy

March 27, 1638 · 9,581 deaths · Questionable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake began at Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy on March 27, 1638 at 15:05 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 9,581 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.

Where the waves reached

The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.

Under 1 m
1 to 3 m
3 to 10 m
10 to 30 m
30 m and more
Height not recorded

Tsunami warnings in force

Travel times

How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.

The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.

1 to 4 hours
5 to 6 hours
7 to 14 hours
15 hours and more

Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.

The tsunami

Date: March 27, 1638, 15:05 UTC
Source: Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 7
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 5
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Questionable tsunami
Source location: 39.033° N, 16.283° E

The toll

Deaths: 9,581 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Extreme (about $25 million or more) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Very many (over 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it

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.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

1638, March 27,20-21h [local time]. Calabrian Arc, Calabria, the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea, 39 N, 16 E, intenisty X. Tsunami intensity 4. First underground shock caused no damage and was felt in Calabria in the evening of January 18. Total number of victims was estimated at 9,581 people. Aiello (Calabro) - 408 houses houses destroyed with 655 people killed; Belsito destroyed, 116 killed; Grimaldi destroyed, 234 killed; Carpanzano razed to ground, 495 killed; Conflenti Superiore houses destroyed, 229 killed; Malito destroyed 173 killed; Motta Sta Lucia damaged, 532 killed; Nicastro all destroyed, 1,200 killed; Piane Crati razed, 102 killed; Sambiase destroyed, 216 killed; Scigliano Diano destroyed, 451 killed; Feroleto (della Chiesa) damaged, 126 killed. Focus of earthquake located near Nicastro. Earthquake was felt on Sicily (reference #2130).

1637, March 27, 15:05 UTC. Tyrrhenian Calabria, 39o02'N, 16o17'E, magnitude 7, intensity XI. Tsunami reliability 2, intensity 2. Strong shock located near Nicastro, Calabria, about 15 km far from Tyrrhenian coast. More than 10,000 victims, though the exact number is unknown. Severe damage in many localities: Cosenza, Nicastro, S.Eufemia, Girifalco, etc. Felt in a very large area, involving the whole Calabria. Kircher (r10) mentions an intense volcanic activity at the Etna and Stromboli volcanoes in the day immediately before the shock. Many coeval sources are available.

Scarce information on the tsunami.

At Pizzo Calabro the sea was reported to withdraw by about 2000 paces leaving the sea bottom dry and then to come back to its normal level just before the shock (Recupito, r11).

Further references: Mercalli (r40 and r13), Bonito (r12), Mallet (r33), Capocci (r34), Baratta (r1), Caputo (r5), Bedosti (r30), Soloviev (r414, r582), Tinti (r9, r597), Boschi (r124). (reference #4139)

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

Where	Country	Km from source	Water height, m	Inland, m	Measured by	First wave, UTC	Deaths
Pizzo Calabro	Italy	35			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1638 The 1600s Tsunamis of Italy The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts in force

Sources

Tsunami events and runups 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 tsunami event 3131.