lost their faith in the town's resilience. Most moved out, including the monks. The exodus probably spared Norcia from mass funerals. The town was virtually empty when the Oct. 30 earthquake hit in the early morning. There were no fatalities, though about 20 people were injured.

Moments after the earthquake struck, the Benedictine monks commandeered a car and sped down to Norcia. Their first thought was not the fate of their brewery or the basilica, but that of the cloistered Franciscan nuns, known as the Poor Clares, who lived near the basilica. "Firefighters helped us break down their door and we found the nuns huddled around the altar," Fr. Prior said. "We could have all died there."

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Benedictine monks in blue habits and local workers building foundationsfor a new church and residence near the church of St. Benedict. Chris Warde-Jones

When they inspected their brewery, housed in the remnants of a 13th Century barn, they found it in remarkably good shape. It was one of the few businesses in Norcia that was not destroyed. The monks' goal is to bottle the 5,000 litres of beer remaining in the two vats and get their new brewery going so that the sales can fund the reconstruction of the basilica and their old monastery. The original brewery, and the monks' tourist shop associated with it, will be brought back to life at some point. But that could take years.

The American Benedictine monks arrived in Norcia in 2000. Their idea was to reopen the monastery that was abandoned in