In Quake-Ravaged Italian Town, Magical Thinking And Little Progress

“That earthquake, in April 2009, killed hundreds and left tens of thousands of L’Aquilans homeless, shuttering the city’s graceful and extensive historic center … Since then Italian officials have kept promising to restore the city to its former self, but fewer than a dozen buildings have so far been repaired … These days, tourists arrive to gawk at the rubble. Ruin porn has become the new local industry.”