The Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia: a project of rebirth

30 October 2025 marks the reopening of the Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia, almost a decade after the 2016 earthquake. The ceremony, attended by civil and religious authorities, is the culmination of years of work and collaboration between institutions, the local community and the companies involved in the reconstruction. Eni has made its technological and managerial expertise available to support the project and has directly overseen individual parts of the reconstruction project. The priorities of the initiative were the conservation of the Basilica and its safety and seismic reinforcement, while fully respecting its historical, artistic and cultural value. Taking part in the reopening ceremony on 30 October are Giuseppe Zafarana, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eni, and Ledvin Zardini, Chief Executive of EniServizi.  

Until 2 November 2025, Norcia will celebrate the event with solemn moments and with La luce della Regola, an installation project that lights up the Basilica’s façade with words drawn from the monastic Rule of St. Benedict of Norcia.  

On 30 October 2016, an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 struck Umbria, causing severe damage to Norcia’s art heritage. The Basilica of St. Benedict suffered major structural damage, with only the main façade and part of the apse left standing. In 2021, Eni signed a sponsorship agreement with the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Commissioner for the post-2016 earthquake reconstruction, and the Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia to help rebuild the Basilica. The company provided operational and project management support, in particular by managing the parts of the reconstruction project that were assigned to it.  

One element of great technical and symbolic value was the recovery and cataloguing of the Basilica’s original stones, stored in the Santa Scolastica depot in Norcia. Working alongside the Superintendency and the Ministry, Eni helped set up spaces, tools and logistics to identify and archive the surviving stone fragments from the collapse, a fundamental step for reconstructing the building. This commitment continues Eni’s long-standing work to safeguard Italy’s artistic and cultural heritage, which has included the Duomo of Milan, the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila and other sites of high artistic and symbolic value.