Evidence of Roman Earthquake Surface Faulting at Santa Venera al Pozzo (Catania, Southern Italy): a probable seismic event in 251 AD?

The record of historical seismicity of Catania (Southern Italy) and its neighbourhood during the first millennium AD is largely incomplete due to the scarcity of sources reporting information on earthquake damage, whereas on the contrary numerous historical sources provide plentiful description of past Etnean eruptions affecting the Catania area. This study provides new insights on the Catania seismic history, which was struck by large earthquakes during its recent history (e.g. 1169, 1542, 1693, 1818 earthquakes). During the first millennium, the only documented earthquake occurred in 251 AD, a year before of the big Etna eruption of 252 AD (Guidoboni et al., 2014). This earthquake left we…