On 30 October 2016, Norcia was hit by a very strong 6.5 magnitude earthquake. In the previous days there had been other, smaller tremors that had alerted the population. The earthquake occurred on Sunday at 7 am, but it did not surprise the people inside the houses so miraculously there were no victims. Furthermore, the change in solar time contributed to keeping the 300 firefighters away from the Basilica of San Benedetto, who with an extra hour would have found themselves on the roof which then collapsed.
The public holiday also limited the maintenance work on the damaged buildings: these 3 factors (shocks in the previous days, change of time and public holiday) were decisive for the extremely favorable outcome, which resulted in no deaths or injuries. However, the damage to the structures was extensive. Even today the rubble is still on site and the reconstruction has not begun.
It should not be forgotten that even before that there was the earthquake of 24 August, when a 6.0 magnitude shock destroyed Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and other villages in Lazio, Umbria, Abruzzo and Marche, causing the death of 303 people.