Word: pozzuoli
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...shabby Italian seaport of Pozzuoli, just outside Naples, is widely known as the home town of Sophia Loren. But Pozzuoli (pop. 70,000) has another distinction. Perched atop a geologically active area that includes Vesuvius and boiling sulfur springs named the Campi Flegrei ("Fiery Fields"), the ancient town has been quite literally rising and falling at least since Roman times. These terrestrial undulations-an example of what some geologists call bradyseisms (from the Greek roots bradys, or slow, and seismos, earthquake) -usually occur gradually and imperceptibly. But lately Pozzuoli has been moving at an extaordinary rate. Last week, after parts...
...Will. Pozzuoli's plight is apparent everywhere. Walls and roofs have cracked. Dozens of buildings have been declared unsafe, including a hospital, a police station and the city hall. The waterfront has risen so far above the Bay of Naples that workmen finally had to chop away huge chunks of the stone wharf before ferries could conveniently dock again. The elegant Roman ruin known as the Temple of Serapide, standing in the midst of a small waterfront lagoon created by ancient sinking, now is higher out of the water than ever before in the memory of Pozzuolians. The hardest...
...that the shifts could culminate in a sudden eruption of Vesuvius, which has been quiet since 1944. The institute's scientists do not seem worried; any major eruption, they say, would be preceded by such preliminary warnings as tremors and heating of the crater. Indeed, they look upon Pozzuoli's problems as an opportunity to learn more about the earth's interior. Scientists from all over Italy are currently investigating the rising ground. Offshore, an Italian navy oceanographic vessel is taking soundings. Two volcanologists have rushed to the scene from Japan. "We hope the movement will continue...
When the war hammered through Pozzuoli-"It was in the house, in the streets" -Sophia took her place in what is now called Italy's Generazione Bruciata, the Burnt Generation. People were eating one teaspoon of sugar a day and one slice of bread. Her mother once scavenged a cup of water from the radiator of an automobile and rationed it to her two daughters spoonful by spoonful. During one bombardment, Sophia cut her chin. She still has the scar. When the bombing became frequent, the family slept every night in the tunnel of the railroad that runs...
...little stick suddenly blossomed. Gymnastics classes were held in the Roman amphitheater, and the men of Pozzuoli began to show up to watch Sophia doing calisthenics. "It became a pleasure just to stroll down the street," Sophia remembers. Mamma had thought that Sophia should try to become a teacher, but she took another look and put her in a beauty contest. She won a secondary prize that included 15.000 lire and some wallpaper, which still decorates Grandfather Villani's living room in Pozzuoli. In the spring of 1950, mother and daughter went off to Rome to seek work...