One of the most significant long-term effects of the
1976 Friuli earthquake emerged in an area of society seemingly unrelated to
relief work and reconstruction efforts: the foundation of the public University
of Udine in the provincial capital.
When the Italian Constitution of 1948 established a
new regional entity by merging the provinces of Udine, Gorizia and Trieste (the
province of Pordenone would be added in 1968). The newly formed Region
inherited the University of Trieste, which had been founded in 1924 with a
Faculty of Economics and Commerce. Between 1938 and 1956, the University
expanded to include a Faculty of Law and various other faculties of the
humanities and sciences. However, by the mid-1960s, Northeast Italy was in need
of a new medical school. The easternmost school was in Padua, and despite calls
to establish a new faculty in Udine, the new department was instead allocated
to Trieste in 1965. In the meantime, Trieste had also become the seat of the
Special Statute Region, which had finally become operational.
Having a university in Udine was highly valued at all
levels of Friulian society, and the lack of one was seen as a major obstacle to
the growth of an area that had begun to make rapid progress in all areas of
modern economic and social life. The economic boom brought about a large
increase in the number of high school graduates who aspired to a university
degree, and the liberalisation of university enrolment for all five-year high
school graduates of any subject (the Codignola Law, 1969), granted in the wake
of the 1968 student protests, made the lack of a local university all the more
intolerable.
In the years that followed, state universities were
established in Salerno, Bergamo, Reggio Calabria and Rome Tor Vergata. A
university consortium was founded in Udine in 1967, and a committee for the
University of Friuli was set up in 1971, both on the initiative of Tarciso
Petracco, a teacher at the local classical studies secondary school. However,
the project made no headway due to regional and national political vetoes and
obstructionism from the University of Trieste, as well as the fact that the Italian
Ministry of Education was overwhelmed by a flood of requests from institutions
across Italy seeking new universities. This was driven by the aspirations of
the children of the baby boom generation, who wanted, and perhaps even
had a right, to pursue higher education closer to where they lived. In late
1975, it was decided that a popular initiative should be taken to establish a
university in Udine, given the difficulties of achieving this goal within the
framework of Italian law. The initiative was launched, as provided for in
Article 71 of the Italian Constitution, which requires the signatures of 50,000
voters to propose legislation to Parliament. A total of 19,117 signatures had
been collected within six months.
Then, on May 6 1976, the earthquake devastated Friuli,
which provided an unexpected opportunity. Amidst the rubble, in tent cities and
villages of caravans and prefabricated buildings, and amongst voters at polling
stations for the general election, the campaign to collect signatures for the
University of Udine gathered momentum. Led by hundreds of volunteers, by
mid-August 1976, 125,000 Friulian voters had signed the popular initiative
bill, which was submitted to Parliament with 106,000 valid signatures.
This was followed by demonstrations, a press campaign
and countless appeals not to undermine the hopes of an entire population.
Finally, Italian Law No. 546 dated August 8 1977, on the Reconstruction of
areas in the Regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto affected by the 1976
earthquake, provided for the establishment of the University of Udine
(rather than the «University of Friuli», as had been requested) with effect
from the 1977–78 academic year. The statute stated that the role of the
university would be «to contribute to the civil, social and economic progress
of Friuli, and to become an integral instrument for the development and renewal
of the original aspects of Friulian culture, language, traditions and history».
With the first courses starting in 1978, the University of Udine – whose
establishment was decisively aided by the earthquake – would go on to become,
in the decades that followed, and remains today, one of the driving forces
behind the social and economic growth of the area.
The 1976 Friuli earthquake was also pivotal in terms
of civil protection. At the time, Italian Law No. 996 dated December 8 1970,
titled Regulations on relief and assistance to populations affected by
disasters – Civil Protection, was in force. Introduced partly in response
to previous disasters, such as the Vajont disaster, the Florence floods and the
Belìce earthquake, this legislation was limited to establishing some general
definitions and allocating responsibility for emergencies to the Italian
Ministry of the Interior. The implementing regulations of the Law, however, did
not arrive until eleven years later.
The principle of centralisation on which Italian Law
No. 996 was founded was effectively overturned in the aftermath of the
earthquake of May 6 1976: the appointment of a Special Commissioner, as
permitted by the Law itself, paved the way for an unprecedented devolution of
emergency and rescue responsibilities to the Regional Government and local
authorities. Sector Operations Centres (Centri Operativi di Settore - COS) were
set up immediately to coordinate rescue and relief efforts for the population. Unfortunately,
the example set in Friuli was of little use during the devastating earthquake
in Irpinia in 1980 (in which over 2,700 people died), when rescue efforts
arrived too late. The serious failure of the State to act was even condemned by
the President of the Republic himself, Sandro Pertini.
Italian Law No. 938/1982 thus established what was
essentially a ‘Permanent Commissioner’, ready to intervene in the event of an
emergency: the Italian Minister for the Coordination of Civil Protection (now
the Minister for Civil Protection). Supporting this role is the Italian Civil
Protection Department, which was also established in 1982. Its objectives are
to provide information and prepare national and regional civil protection
plans. The Department has specific responsibilities for emergency coordination,
managing rescue services, and promoting volunteer initiatives.
The cultural and technical legacy of the emergency
response to the tremors of 1976 has also been carried forward in the practices
and organisation of the Civil Protection Department of Friuli Venezia Giulia:
it has inspired the management of local emergencies such as the flooding in Val
Canale in the Province of Udine in 2003, Storm Vaia in 2017, the COVID-19
pandemic, the disastrous hailstorm in Mortegliano, also in the Province of
Udine, in 2023, and the flooding in the territory of Gorizia in 2025.
Today, the ‘toolbox’ we can rely on to tackle not only
potential, and perhaps likely, future disasters but also the serious problems
posed by the environmental challenges of our century is far better equipped
than it was fifty years ago. Thanks to the legacy of the 1976 Friuli
earthquakes, we now have a range of additional tools designed to enhance the
resilience of the territory and its people.
On May 6 1977, one year after the first tremor, the
Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia inaugurated a Regional Seismic
Network, now part of a seismic network covering Northeast Italy. This system
has been supplemented by a regional accelerometer network, comprising stations
that measure the actual ground motion during earthquakes, providing essential
data for anti-seismic planning and design, as well as the assessment of the
localised effects of earthquakes.
In 2005, the Intersectoral Safety and Protection
Laboratory (SPRINT) was established at the University of Udine to help prevent
and manage risks and emergencies resulting from major disasters. To mark the
40th anniversary of the earthquake, the SERM Academy (International Training
School in Seismic Emergency Response Management) was also launched. This
international training school specialises in seismic emergency response
management and has an operational training camp in the hamlet of Portis
Vecchio, which was never rebuilt, in the Municipality of Venzone. In 2018, the
University of Udine established a UNESCO Chair in Cross-Sectoral Safety for
Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience. This is held by Prof. Stefano Grimaz,
who is an internationally renowned expert in disaster resilience.