"Thanks to digitization and the application of modern analysis techniques, we have been able to extract useful data from recordings dating back over 130 years, improving our understanding of seismic hazards in Liguria and Western Europe". These are the findings of researchers from the University of Trieste, who, in collaboration with the University of Genoa and the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics, have reconstructed, with an unprecedented level of precision—utilizing instrumental data for the first time—key parameters such as the earthquake's magnitude and fault mechanism that affected Liguria on February 23, 1887. That earthquake claimed over 600 lives and triggered a tsunami along the shore. The researchers looked specifically at historical magnetograms, which are graphic representations of the Earth's magnetic field that capture fluctuations in magnetic intensity throughout time and place. The study's findings were published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, and they now provide new perspectives for reassessing large historical earthquakes and estimating seismic hazard across Europe.