The 1908 earthquake of Messina: An accounting perspective on the city's reconstruction between faith and Fascism

Abstract

This article focuses on the 1923–1937 period when the rise of Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime drove public works programmes. The 1908 earthquake almost destroyed Messina and, in the Fascist period Angelo Paino, the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Messina, fostered the reconstruction of the ecclesiastical heritage of the city and surrounding villages. Primary and secondary sources were collected and analysed to investigate the role of accounting and calculation practices in interpreting the urban reconstruction programme that the Fascist government actively supported. This research contributes to accounting history research adding the new reading of accounting, disasters and urban reconstruction, and highlighting the relations between the Fascist regime and the Catholic Church within an urban reconstruction programme following one of history's major catastrophes. We obtained several findings, including an interpretation of the Fascist regime's reconstruction of the city's churches and key public buildings as an instrument of consensus among the Catholic electorate.

Disaster accountability for the response/recovery stage and the role of hybrid organisations: The case of the anti-phylloxera consortia's reports

“…The contents of historical documents need careful analysis to allow researchers to understand the contribution that these documents can make to the objectives of the research (Prior, 2003). According to Vermiglio et al (2023), document analysis can be considered the most appropriate research methodology for the in-depth analysis of some research areas, from a historical perspective. Both documents were found in the State Archives of Lecce province (Apulia region): the first document was presented to the then Minister of Agriculture by the President of the provincial commission of Lecce, and the second document analysed is the three-year report drawn up by the Technical Director of the consortium for the protection against phylloxera for the Lecce area.…”

“…The contents of historical documents need careful analysis to allow researchers to understand the contribution that these documents can make to the objectives of the research (Prior, 2003). According to Vermiglio et al (2023), document analysis can be considered the most appropriate research methodology for the in-depth analysis of some research areas, from a historical perspective.…”

Accounting for natural disasters: An historical perspective

“…The article by Vermiglio et al (2024) is situated in Italy, during the twentieth century, and it is focused on the urban reconstruction program in the aftermath of the 1908 major earthquake. Importantly, the study highlights the interrelations between the Fascist Regime and the Catholic Church, at a time when the emergency drove public attention to the reconstruction of the ecclesiastical heritage of the city of Messina and surrounding villages.…”