The entire region is struggling to cope after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake - the strongest to hit the country since 1980 - struck on Sunday, claiming no livesbut wreaking massive damage at its epicentre, near the Umbrian town of Norcia.
A powerful aftershock early on Tuesday recorded a magnitude of 4.8 according to Italian seismic institute INGV. It was one of the almost 20 recent aftershocks which have measured over 4 on the Richter scale.
"It's hell, and it never stops," said Mayor Marco Rinaldi, whose town, Ussita, was razed by Sunday's earthquake. He said the ongoing seismic activity has caused further buildings already damaged by the quakes to collapse.
Major structural damage was also reported in the area of Castelsantangelo sul Nera.
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"Everything is collapsing here," Mayor Mauro Falcucci said.
"Anything that hasn't collapsed is unstable. The town looks as if it has been flattened."
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited the site on Tuesday, promising that the government would do everything in its power to rebuild.
"There is no magic wand, but we'll do it somehow, even if it takes a lot of time," he said.
No deaths have been reported in the most recent quakes, but residents' nerves have been tested after enduring a magnitude-6 earthquake in August.
That disaster caused 298 deaths in Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto, about 55 kilometres south-west of Norcia.
