the monks plan to build a second brewery at their makeshift monastery on the hills overlooking Norcia, production may not resume for many months. That means the local bars and restaurants that cherish the beer, and the American beer stores that stock it, will be running short of supplies soon.

The inside of a store on the high street of Norcia, Italy devastated by earthquakes in August and October. Chris Warde-Jones

The beer is called Birra Nursia – Nursia is the Latin name for Norcia – and it's more than just another product in a town famous for its culinary delights, which include wild boar sausage and hams, black truffles, fine pecorino cheeses and Sangiovese and Trebbiano wines. The relaunch of the brewery, along with the monks' effort to bringtheir basilica back to life, have given Norcia hope that it will not forever remain a ghost town – the fate, no doubt, of many nearby towns and villages levelled in the series of earthquakes since August.

"The brewery for the townspeople is a sign of life," Fr. Prior said.

Norcia was not supposed to be an earthquake victim. The town was hit by devastating, fatal earthquakes in 1859, 1978 and 1997 – "dates written in flesh," as they are known – and was repaired each time to make the buildings more resistant to tremors. The horrendous Aug. 24 earthquake that killed about 300 people in and around Amatrice, about an hour's drive southeast of Norcia, inflicted little damage on Norcia.

As aftershocks from the August earthquake proved relentless, the locals