L'Aquila holds torchlight procession to mark 14 years since earthquake.

Italy marks the 14th 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, leaving 70,000 homeless and devastating more than 50 villages in the central Abruzzo region.

Italy's prime minister Giorgia Meloni and senate speaker Ignazio La Russa on Wednesday attended commemoration ceremonies for the victims of the earthquake, including a Mass in the church of S. Maria del Suffragio.

On Wednesday 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.

Works to reconstruct buildings in L'Aquila are still underway, 14 years after the city was devastated by the deadly earthquake.

• From the Archive: Abruzzo earthquake rescue operations continue

In 2021 Rome's MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts opened a new contemporary art museum in L'Aquila, in the refurbished Palazzo Ardinghelli.

Later that year the former Italian premier Mario Draghi inaugurated a memorial park in L'Aquila, hailing the victims who perished in the earthquake as "309 angels".

Photo Comune di L'Aquila