«Estraordinarie impressioni di foco comparse nell’aria». Fenomeni meteorologici ignei e capitelli nella Terraferma veneta del Settecento

«extraordinary impressions of fire appeared in the air». meteorological igneous phenomena and wayside shrines in the venetian mainland of the 18th century. Between 1706 and 1754 a series of catastrophic meteorological phenomena continuous and unexplained fires, falling meteors and emission of sulfur-bituminous gas tormented some villages in the territory between Bassano del Grappa and Castelfranco Veneto. The peasants, culturally far away from the theoretical proposals advanced by the naturalists and deeply tied to Catholic and rural knowledge, tried to solve the problem by themselves requiring the thaumaturgical intervention of the patron saints against fires and for the protection of livestock through the creation of wayside shrines dedicated to them.