L'Aquila holds torchlight procession to mark 16 years since earthquake.

Italy on Sunday marks the 16th anniversary of the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the city of L'Aquila in the early hours of 6 April 2009, killing 309 people.

The earthquake left thousands of people homeless and devastated more than 50 villages in the central Abruzzo region, in the deadliest terremoto to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

On Saturday night local residents held the traditional torchlit procession through the streets of L'Aquila, and a huge blue beam of light was projected into the sky from the central Piazza Duomo.

At 03.32, church bells rang out 309 times, once for each person that died under the rubble.

Recovery has been a slow process, with works to reconstruct some buildings in L'Aquila still underway 16 years after the city was devastated by the deadly earthquake.

In 2021 Rome's MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts opened a new contemporary art museum in L'Aquila, while that same year former Italian premier Mario Draghi inaugurated a memorial park in the city, hailing the victims who perished in the earthquake as "309 angels".

L'Aquila is currently preparing to become Italian Capital of Culture 2026, a prestigious year-long title it will obtain next January.

Photo ANSA