Why would a community want to remain living in an area where the ground keeps trembling? Why do the village folk dig bare handedly in the church ruins, a symbol of their rural farming life? A broken crucifix to repair for the next procession for their patron saint and a buried painting to restore become emblems of resilience, a proud sense of belonging, a defense of a culture struggling to survive, a challenge against post-earthquake isolation. Nearby, restorers are working at San Salvatore in Campi to save the fragments of a priceless artistic heritage that has crumbled in a recent earthquake, while in his hermitage at 1000 m a monk follows the Benedictine rule of ora et labora in harmony with nature and at peace with his beloved surroundings.
