“It has been ten hard years. The process is not complete, aware of much that has been done, we are still suspended: ‘Amatrice is no longer there and not yet there,’ but piece by piece it reappears, in an effort of gigantic proportions.” “When people remain distant from each other or when the town square is not yet there, it is difficult, but we are sure it will be full of people again.” This was said by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi while celebrating mass in Amatrice, as part of the ceremonies for the tenth anniversary of the central Italy earthquake, which on the night of August 24, 2016, caused 299 victims. “It also depends on each of us – Zuppi emphasized again -. Polemics do not matter, but the commitment of everyone, starting with the State and its institutions, the Church, the passion and creativity of each person. ‘There is much to do but the worst is behind us’.”
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Prime Minister Meloni’s participation
The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also attended the tenth anniversary ceremonies, arriving by helicopter in Amatrice after participating via video link from Palazzo Chigi in the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing on Ukraine. The Prime Minister took part in the first of the two ceremonies, the laying of the wreath at the Monument to the victims in Don Minozzi Park; subsequently, she attended the Holy Mass officiated by Cardinal Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, at the Amatrice sports field. Upon leaving Don Minozzi Park, where she laid a wreath at the foot of the monument to the fallen, the Prime Minister privately met with the families of the earthquake victims, accompanied by Reconstruction Commissioner Guido Castelli and Paolo Trancassini.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni participates in a ceremony at a monument dedicated to the victims of the 2016 earthquake, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the disaster, in Amatrice, Italy, on August 24, 2026. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
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During the tenth anniversary ceremony of the earthquake, there was also an unscheduled event involving the Prime Minister. In front of the memorial to the 239 earthquake victims, secured due to the Prime Minister’s presence, during the playing of the ‘Silence,’ a citizen of Amatrice who lost part of his family in the 2016 earthquake, visibly emotional and critical of the ceremony, tried to approach the Prime Minister to speak to her but was stopped and comforted by Mayor Cortellesi. After the ceremony, Meloni approached the man to exchange a few words with him. “I managed to speak to her and she hugged me. It was the most beautiful emotion of my life,” he said in tears.
Former mayor of Amatrice skips the ceremony
“Since I no longer have an institutional role, I prefer to live my mourning privately.” This is what the former mayor of Amatrice (Rieti), Sergio Pirozzi, said, absent from the ongoing ceremony at the Tilesi sports field in Amatrice where Cardinal Zuppi celebrated mass in memory of the earthquake victims. “The future – Pirozzi added – belongs only to us, and we must write it together, only then can we honor the memory of those who are no longer here.” Pirozzi, mayor on the night of the August 24, 2026 earthquake, last night participated in the torchlight procession culminating with the reading of the names of the Amatrice earthquake victims and this morning attended a mass, together with a few citizens and victims’ families, in the container that still houses the parish of Sant’Agostino.
