by Maximiliano Crocamo
Interview: Sebastiano Callari, FVG Councilor for State Property and Heritage
The Friuli Venezia Giulia regional government has unveiled Memorie76, a new open-source digital archive containing more than 12,000 photographs, documents and official records related to the devastating 1976 Friuli earthquake.
Presented in Trieste on Thursday, the project aims to preserve and expand public access to one of the defining events in the region’s modern history. The archive was developed by the regional government in collaboration with Fondazione MAIRE-ETS and is designed to be continuously enriched with additional material contributed by the public.
Regional officials described the initiative as both a historical resource and a collective memory project. Sebastiano Callari, the regional councilor for heritage, said the platform was intentionally created as an open-source collection so that individuals and institutions could contribute images and documents that help further document the reconstruction era.
Riccardo Riccardi, the regional councilor for civil protection and president of the committee marking the earthquake’s 50th anniversary, highlighted the collaborative response that followed the disaster. He pointed to institutional cooperation, national and international solidarity, and long-term investment in infrastructure and education as key elements of the region’s recovery.
The archive includes photographs alongside administrative records and historical documents, offering researchers, schools and the public a digital record of both the earthquake and the reconstruction that followed. Luca Caburlotto, the regional archival superintendent, also took part in the presentation.
The 1976 earthquake, which struck northeastern Italy on May 6, remains one of the country’s most significant natural disasters and is widely studied for its community-led reconstruction model.
