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The earthquakes of May 20th and 29th, 2012 A provisional report of a dramatic experience The earthquake in Emilia has left profound scars, caused suffering and added further difficulty to what was already a complex economic situation. There has, however, been an extraordinary response to this disaster.
The reaction to the devastating “earth breath” Courage and solidarity Several months have passed since the profound and lethal "earth breath" of May 20th which made us discover how fragile we are. If it is when faced with difficulties that we see how a community reacts, then Ferrara has shown extraordinary strength.
Doing business in an earthquake zone Will, pragmatism and creativity The earthquakes of May 2012 extensively and violently damaged the most productive district of our province - the upper Ferrara area which houses most of the industrial activity of the area.
“We’re still here, we haven’t left” Small businesses and craftsmen Eight months after the earthquake it is possible to take stock of the situation, analyzing what has been done. I can testify that, after the initial pain and discomfort, my colleagues and craftsmen reacted by rolling up their sleeves and removing the rubble from homes and businesses.
Tha agricultural sector and the earthquake Facts and considerations Old rural culture has always been cautiously afraid of leap years. In the 2012 leap year we witnessed a catastrophic earthquake and a devastating drought that
extensively damaged not only agricultural buildings but also the farm revenue for a large part of the upper Ferrara area.

Vigarano: the story of a meteorite

Written by  Enrico Trevisani

One of the most important meteorites in the world fell in the Ferrara area one hundred years ago.The present location of the “Vigarano” meteorite fragment, in the Museo di Storia Naturale, Ferrara.

Ugo Martini, municipal secretary of Vigarano Mainarda, referred to the event as follows in March 1910: "On the night of 22 January 1910, at 21:30, the Bovini family, who live in the Saracca farm house, owned by Mr. Michele Cariani in Vigarano Pieve, a hamlet in the Municipality of Vigarano Mainarda (Ferrara), was awakened by a strong explosion that was like a mortar explosion. The night was stormy, it was snowing, and a few women were spinning in the kitchen. The ladies claim that they saw a streak of lightening at the same time as the explosion. They got scared, and called the men who were sleeping. The men explored the outside of thThe farm house in Vigarano where, one hundred years ago, the meteorite fell.e house with lanterns. They saw something three metres south east of the house, on the ground lightly covered with snow, and immediately confirmed that the hole had been made recently. Naturally they sank a shovel into the hole, and hit a solid, cold body, which they took out". That is how the story of the Vigarano meteorite started one hundred years ago; a meteorite prized by collectors and experts all over the world. The Vigarano meteorite fell on 22 January 1910 at about 21:30, a little over a hundred metres from the Vigarano Pieve church, west of Ferrara. The main body of 11.5 kg was found immediately after the fall, while a few weeks later a second body of 4.5 kg was found a few hundred metres from the main one. The VigA period postcard, documenting the strange fact.arano meteorite, along with the Renazzo meteorite (which fell in 1824) are the only two carbonaceous chondrites to have been discovered in Italy, both falling in the Province of Ferrara, and just a little over 20 km apart. Eyewitness accounts mention seeing a very bright reddish-green trail, followed by two strong explosions, with a hissing sound in between. The main body (11.5 kg) fell three metres south east of the Saracca farm house, owned by Michele Cariani. It formed a crater about 70 cm deep and about 1.5 m in diameter, melting the snow around it. The secondary body (4.5 kg) was found in February 1910, about 700 m to tSample of false “Vigarano” in the Museo di Storia Naturale, Ferrara.he north east, in the Vignola farm, owned by Quirino Morandi. The meteorites are known as the "Cariani meteorite" (11.5 kg) and the "Morandi meteorite" (4.5 kg). The Vigarano meteorite has been subject to ongoing detailed petrological and geochemical studies, and has given rise to about a hundred scientific articles. It is a carbonaceous chondrite, i.e. a type of meteorite that has not undergone much alteration; generally an assemblage of metals subject to strong heat will tend to form composites, but this doesn't happen in chondrites. They contain minerals that form at both high and low temperatures, therefore lending themselves to the study of proto-planetary disk material. Another reason this can be done is because the Vigarano meteorite is older than our planet (4.Sample of “Vigarano” in the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.6 billion years old, i.e. a few tens of millions of years older than Earth). Carbonaceous chondrites contain more water and volatile substances than other meteorites; they are defined as carbonaceous because they contain organic compounds that could be considered to be the precursors of life; in fact some are rich in amino acids. In addition, an extraordinary correspondence has been found to exist between the sun's composition, inferred from its spectrum, and the composition of the carbonaceous chondrites.