Disaster and Dominion: The Spanish Crown's Response to the Sicilian Earthquake of 1693

Sofia Hernandez, M.Phil.

1693 began disastrously for Sicily when a powerful earthquake rocked the island on January 9 and 11. A contemporary account describes the city of Catania as "flattened like the palm of a hand." The story goes that renewal followed destruction, as the towns of eastern Sicily were forced to rebuild – nearly from scratch – ushering in a new architectural style on the island. As the largest and most devastated city, Catania became a near tabula rasa for architecture and urbanism. Before rebuilding could commence, immediate and urgent actions were required: clearing rubble, providing shelter and sustenance to survivors, and ensuring security. This dissertation will explore how the Spanish Habsburg administration responded to the earthquake's immediate aftermath. Practical interventions laid the groundwork for new architecture and urbanism to emerge out of the chaos. This study utilizes archival material from Spain and Sicily, to understand the responses of the sovereign and the subject. Positioned against the backdrop of the waning Spanish Habsburg monarchy – culminating with the death of Charles II in 1700 – this study highlights how the empire's peripheral territories, like Sicily, became sites of both challenge and opportunity for asserting imperial control. By analyzing political, architectural, and urbanistic strategies implemented after the earthquake, this dissertation examines how Catania's rebuilding incorporated adaptive strategies to mitigate future environmental risks. In doing so, it offers insights into the dynamic interplay between human resilience, urbanism, and environmental forces in the early modern Mediterranean.