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Italy earthquake

Town leveled by earthquake was voted one of Italy's most beautiful

Kim Hjelmgaard
USA TODAY
An aerial photo of damaged buildings in Amatrice, central Italy, after an earthquake, on Aug. 24.

One of the picturesque, medieval towns decimated by Wednesday's earthquake in central Italy was voted by the general public to be one of the country's most beautiful cities only last year.

Amatrice is about 80 miles northeast of Rome, with a population of 2,650. It is part of a network of hilltop communities over a wide area that includes Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto in the agricultural regions of Umbria, Lazio and Marche, which are popular vacation spots. Dozens of people were killed when the magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck in the middle of the night.

Amatrice was filled with terracotta-colored buildings and charming courtyards several hundred years old. It is known as the birthplace of spaghetti all’amatriciana, a pasta dish of pork cheek, pecorino cheese and tomato.

An annual festival celebrating the town's namesake food was scheduled to take place this weekend during the height of tourist season in Italy.

At least 247 dead as quake rocks central Italy

The age of the buildings and their proximity to fault lines make them especially vulnerable to earthquakes.

Amatrice's 16th century clock tower remained frozen at 3:36 a.m. — the moment the tremor struck, local media reported.

Images from the scene show devastation and ruin on a massive scale where traditional Italian architecture once stood.

"Three-quarters of the town is not there anymore," Mayor Sergio Piorizzi told Italian state TV shortly after the quake.

"The whole village is leveled,” said Steve Audino of Mebourne, Fla., whose parents are traveling in Italy and reached family members who own a home in Amatrice.

“Those villages in the mountains are very high. They are hard to get to,” he said. “You are definitely in the real Italy when you are in that village.”

Audino said that his family members are safe, but their home is destroyed. “You can’t rebuild that history,” he said.

More than 40 million foreign tourists visit Italy each year, and it has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country in the world.

None of those appeared to have been affected by Wednesday's quake.

Contributing: John McCarthy at Florida Today.

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