High Middle Ages · Europe · Disaster

1142

Earthquake shakes eastern Sicily

1142

A violent earthquake centered near the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna shook eastern Sicily, badly damaging newly built Norman fortifications and collapsing portions of the cathedral at Catania that had only recently been reconstructed after the previous eruption. The tremor was felt across the Strait of Messina in Calabria and triggered landslides in the volcanic highlands above Taormina, disrupting the coastal road for weeks.