First Major Historic Structure Restored after 2009 Abruzzo Earthquake is Returned to Community

Two years after a devastating earthquake hit the Abruzzo region of Italy, an important historic structure damaged in the tremor has been returned to its community fully restored.

Following the earthquake, Bertrand du Vignaud, President of World Monuments Fund Europe, in coordination with the Italian Ministry of Culture, identified the twelfth-century Abbey of San Clemente a Casauria as a priority project. World Monuments Fund (WMF), the foremost independent, nonprofit historic preservation organization, and the Fondazione Pescarabruzzo, the most important local benefactor, agreed to cover the total cost of the conservation program. WMF supported this project through the Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage and the Rudolf-August Oetker Stiftung.