Abstract
In the context of studies on rituals and the protection of saints in early modern
Neapolitan culture, this essay analyses the value of an important textual and iconographic
source, the pictorial ex-voto. The last eruptive cycle of the volcano Vesuvius lasted about
three centuries, from 16 December 1631 to March 1944. The opening eruption was catastrophic and, although it gave rise to a ‘typographical epidemic’, no pictorial ex-votos can
be found in the shrines of the Neapolitan area. This absence allowed the author to adopt
an anthropological approach in order to investigate the relationship between disasters and
popular religious devotion, which changes whether the event is collective or individual.
Keywords: Disaster, Ritual, Ex-voto, Vesuvius, Devotion.