Osservatorio Vesuviano, by Servizio Sismico, Roma, Italy

A series of multimedia monographs concerning the main seismic events that have affected the Italian territory are in the process of being produced for the Documental Integrated Multimedia Project (DIMP) started by the Italian National Seismic Survey (NSS). The purpose of the project is to reconstruct the historical record of earthquakes and promote an earthquake public education. Producing the monographs. developed in ARC INFO and working in UNIX. involved designing a special filing and management methodology to integrate heterogeneous information (images, papers, cartographies, etc.). This paper describes the possibilities of a GIS (Geographic Information System) in the filing and management of documental information. As an example we present the first monograph on the 1883 Casamicciola earthquake. on the island of Ischia (Campania, Italy). This earthquake is particularly interesting for the following reasons: I) historical-cultural context (first destructive seismic event after the unification of Italy); 2) its features (volcanic earthquake); 3) the socioeconomic consequences caused at such an important seaside resort.