PM: Quake strikes at 'nation's identity'

The third powerful earthquake to hit Italy in two months spared human life on Sunday but struck at the nation's identity, destroying a Benedictine cathedral, a medieval tower and other beloved landmarks that had survived the earlier jolts across a mountainous region of small historic towns.

Lost or severely damaged in the shaking were ancient Roman walls, Gothic and Baroque churches and centuries-old paintings crushed beneath tons of brick, sandstone and marble.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the nation's "soul is disturbed" by the series of quakes, starting with the deadly Aug 24 event that killed nearly 300 people, two back-to-back temblors on Oct 26, and the biggest of them all, a 6.6-magnitude quake that shook people out of bed on Sunday morning. It was the strongest quake to hit Italy in 36 years.