  The site effect is usually associated with local geological conditions, which
increase or decrease the level of shaking compared with standard attenuation
relations. We made an attempt to see in the macroseismic data of Italy some
other effects, namely, hot/cold spots in the terminology of Olsen (2000), which
are related to local fault geometry rather than to soil conditions. We give a
list of towns and villages liable to amplify (+) or to reduce (-) the level of
shaking in comparison with the nearby settlements. Relief and soil conditions
cannot always account for the anomalous sites. Further, there are sites where
both (+) and (-) effects are observed depending on the earthquake. The opposite
effects can be generated by events from the same seismotectonic zone and along
the same direction to the site. Anomalous sites may group themselves into
clusters of different scales. All isolated anomalous patterns presented in this
paper can be used in hazard analysis, in particular, for the modeling and
testing of seismic effects.
