NORCIA: Italy’s most powerful earthquake in 36 years has left more than 15,000 people homeless, authorities said Monday as the scale of the damage done to irreplaceable historic buildings became apparent.
Although Sunday’s 6.6-magnitude tremor did not result in any deaths, the third powerful quake in just over two months has left thousands of homes in ruins or structurally unsafe and emptied a string of villages and small towns across the country’s mountainous central regions.
The series of tremors, all followed by powerful aftershocks, proved the final straw for a number of important architectural landmarks, including the Abbey of Sant-Eutizio in Umbria.
With roots dating back to the 5th century, the abbey is one of the oldest monastic sites in Italy and was celebrated for both its 12th century Romanesque facade and its Renaissance belltower.
That rich history was reduced to a pile of ruins on Sunday, leaving local priest Luciano Avenati heartbroken.
“Perhaps we will rebuild but this place will never again be like it was,” he said.
“It is an unimaginable loss.
“This whole region is going to find it hard to recover and the generations to come will only know what it once was through pictures of the past.”
