Prince Charles visits Amatrice in Italy where earthquake killed nearly 300 people

Visit: Prince Charles
AP
Robert Jobson2 April 2017

His hard hat on, Prince Charles has visited the Italian town devastated by an earthquake which killed nearly 300 people.

Charles toured the old town of Amatrice with mayor Sergio Pirozzi, who said after the disaster: "The town isn't here anymore."

The Prince also visited a former school which houses emergency services and reconstruction staff and laid a wreath at a memorial in the grounds.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck on 24 August last year, killing 297 of the town's inhabitants

Quake: Charles met a young resident of the town
AP

A total of three British citizens including Marcos Burnett, 14, from London, died in the disaster

Marcos was there on holiday with his parents and sister.

Amatrice: Nearly 300 people died in the earthquake
AP

Almost 4,000 people were also made homeless following the disaster, which took place 65 miles north-east of Rome.

Wearing a hard hat Charles walked into the streets cleared of rubble but left in shadow by the shattered concrete and collapsed roofs of businesses, homes and shops.

When Charles first arrived he was greeted by Amatrice's Mayor Sergio Pirozzi and told him: "The people in Britain mind very much what's happened to you all here."

Camilla remained in Florence without Charles for a day of culture.

Touring the Italian city without her husband, she visited the world-famous Uffizi Gallery and marvelled at some of its Renaissance treasures on a whirlwind visit.

Surrounded by members of the public, the royal was escorted along a richly-decorated Vasari Corridor to view the Botticelli Rooms - stoping to look at The Birth of Venus and Annunciation - and posing in front of his glorious La Primavera, The Spring.

She also got the chance to stop and drink in an exquisite vista of the Arno and the famous Ponte Vecchio.

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