3.07 Tata 1790
Domenico Tata, Breve relazione dell’ultima eruttazione del Vesuvio, Naples, 1790
Be 4018-3900 raro III
The Breve relazione (‘short account’) by Domenico Tata (1733-1794?), naturalist and volcanologist from Molise, is a scientific report dedicated to the eruption of Vesuvius in 1790. The text is divided into two macro-sections of the same size arranged chronologically, through which the different phases of development of the event are recorded: the first part (pp. 1-24) traces the phases of the eruption from the first events that occurred in the month of May until October 8; the second part (also pp. 1-24), instead, entitled Continuation of the news about Vesuvius, takes up the narrative from October 9 until November 17. The careful chronological reconstruction of the eruption is flanked by ample and precise descriptions based on direct observation of the eruptive phenomena and of the places affected by them. Indeed, in his Breve relazione, Tata gives an account of repeated excursions made in different areas of Vesuvius, during which he collected and analyzed samples of materials generated by the activity of the volcano. [AM]
