The rebirth of Valnerina ten years after the earthquake

It's 7.41am when the earth starts to shake again. It is a Sunday, October 30, 2016. This time, the epicenter of the earthquake is between Castelsantangelo sul Nera (Marche), Norcia and Preci (Umbria) and registers a magnitude of 6.5.

Miraculously, there were no deaths or injuries. The episode is only the latest in a series: a few days earlier, on 26 October, the Valnerina - the valley crossed by the Nera river, which includes the provinces of Macerata, Perugia, Terni and Rieti - was hit by other tremors, with magnitudes 5.4 and 5.9. And it was a few months earlier, on the night of 24 August 2016, that a swarm of magnitude 6.0 destroyed the towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto, taking the lives of 303 people.

Today, 30 October 2026, ten years have passed since the basilica of Norcia, the home town of San Benedetto, surrendered to the earthquake and collapsed. Last year, the new basilica was inaugurated and the event has become a symbol of the rebirth of the town. If in Norcia the reconstruction and restoration works have currently recovered a large part of the damaged structures, it is the hamlets that are still suffering the consequences of the earthquake: in Castelluccio, San Pellegrino, Ancarano and Campi the works are proceeding very slowly and the citizens are still awaiting their rebirth. Next to the material reconstruction, then, there is the intangible reconstruction of the communities. There are people who stay, because they don't want to leave their land. Because they don't want their home to become a ghost town.

Starting today, the Umbria Region will host a series of institutional, cultural and community events in the Valnerina areas for the ten years since the earthquake. The celebrations began this morning in Norcia, with the inauguration of the civic hospital and the preview of the exhibition «Oro e Terra. The Renaissance of Valnerina". The latter is proposed as an "act of restitution", as the curator Caterina Fontanella defined it, of the artistic and cultural heritage of the Valnerina to its inhabitants. A widespread route, which passes through the towns of Spoleto, Norcia, Ferentillo, Cascia, Vallo di Nera and Arrone, hosts the material assets rescued from the rubble of the earthquake ten years ago and subsequently subjected to recovery and protection operations. One of the ideas behind the project is to «use the restored cultural assets as an invitation to travel or return to the areas affected by the earthquake», explains the curator Francesca Valentini. In fact, for each work exhibited, the place of placement before the earthquake and the date of collection are indicated, as well as the indication of the renovation having taken place. «An important element is the identification of the works with their places and with the sites to be rediscovered. The exhibition aims to be a proposal for the inhabitant, who can say "it makes sense to stay here", and an invitation to feel familiar - through one's own heritage - with a land that becomes hostile due to the earthquake", clarifies Valentini.