The 12th Maritime History Meeting entitled A Sea of Risks will be held at the Fondazione Banco di Napoli on October 1, 2024 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.. Perception and Management of Uncertainty in the Mediterranean in the Long Term, organized by the CNR-Institute of History on Mediterranean Europe – Urt at the Foundation. Maritime transport has always been strongly influenced by navigational hazards related to human intervention and adverse natural conditions (storms, waves, wind, groundings, collisions, etc.). Both climate change and maritime safety have been recognized as priorities on the global cross-sectoral policy agenda. While history thus teaches that disasters and their management are nothing new certain it is that one of the main responses to the emergence of such risks in pre-modern societies was the emergence of insurance and other instruments of protection and prevention. Historians and economists will discuss the topic of risk with contributions from studies of Genoa, Pisa and Naples.
The event is part of the activities of the PRIN 2022 projects PNRR WWS (Winds, waves, and storms): historical data and modern quantitative approaches to uncoverthe long-term strategies to prevent mitigate climate risks in the European Seas (15TH-19TH CENTURIES); PRIN 2022, Under Uncertainty. Coping with Risks in the Mediterranean Maritime Business (Italy, 16th-19th centuries).
At the end, guests will be able to visit the Cartastorie – Museum of the Fondazione Banco Napoli.

Institutional greetings
Orazio Abbamonte, President, Fondazione Banco di Napoli
Umberto Masucci, President The International Propeller Club
Carlo Silva, ClickutilityTeam

Introduced by Raffaella Salvemini, Institute of History of Mediterranean Europe – CNR

First session
Moderator: Vittoria Ferrandino (Unisannio)
– Giovanni Ceccarelli (Unimi) The maritime trade between business ne culture in late medieval Italy
– P. Avallone, R. Salvemini (Isem-Cnr), Maritime exchange or insurance contracts? The case-study of preunification southernItaly
southern pre-unification

– L. Piccinno (Unige), The unpredictability of the sea voyage and the “extensive” use of general breakdown. Genoa (16th-
XVII)

– M.C. Schisani, G. Ragozini, F. Caiazzo (Unina), Weather events in mid-18th-century Mediterranean maritime trade. Automatic extraction of data from maritime witnesses in Naples through machine learning techniques

Second session
Moderator: Sergio Sardone (Unina)
– A.M. Musella (Unina), Categorizing risks to know their perception. The Maritime Insurance Companies
in Southern Italy in the 19th century: a thematic analysis of the content of financial statements
– Andrea Addobbati (Unipi), Insurance on foreign markets and information
– Antonio Coviello (Iriss-Cnr), Maritime insurance. The Italian model in the European context

Scientific Committee: P. Avallone, R. Salvemini (Isem-Cnr), Andrea Addobbati (Unipi), M.C. Schisani (Unina), L. Piccinno (Unige), Giovanni Ceccarelli (Unimi)