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Rev. Jim Walker invokes a farewell blessing

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:18:17 GMT

As worshipers hold hands following Communion, Rev. Jim Walker invokes a farewell blessing at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Rev. Jim Walker invokes a farewell blessing

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:17:20 GMT

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Worshipers dip bread into a cup of wine

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:16:18 GMT

Worshipers dip bread into a cup of wine as they celebrate Communion at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Rev. Jim Walker breaks bread

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:15:24 GMT

Rev. Jim Walker breaks bread to begin Communion at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side. Rev. Walker fabricated the alter cross from steel bar and left it in the rain "for a couple of weeks" for the rust coating.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Rev. Jeff Eddings reads scripture

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:14:01 GMT

Rev. Jeff Eddings reads scripture during Sunday worship at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Worshipers hold hands during prayer

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:12:44 GMT

Worshipers hold hands during prayer at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Worshipers hold hands during prayer

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:11:52 GMT

Worshipers hold hands during prayer at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Worshipers gather at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:10:44 GMT

Worshipers gather at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Michele Margittai rocks her son, Nico

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:09:22 GMT

Michele Margittai rocks her son, Nico, 4, as worshipers sing at the Sunday service at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, now housed in a former restaurant on Jane St. on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Columns, damaged in April's earthquake

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:34:40 GMT

Columns, damaged in April's earthquake, are held together by leather strappings in the ruined city of L'Aquila, Italy.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Mauro Fattore, mayor of Fagnano Alto

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:32:24 GMT

Mauro Fattore, mayor of Fagnano Alto, walks in front of a church destroyed by the earthquake.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Wooden scaffolding

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:31:00 GMT

Wooden scaffolding supports damaged buildings in L'Aquila, Italy.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Vallecupa, in central Italy

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:29:50 GMT

Vallecupa, in central Italy, suffered extensive damage in the L'Aquila earthquake.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Six months after the "big shake

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:28:21 GMT

Six months after the "big shake," many homes in the medieval city of L'Aquila are still little more than piles of rubble.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Some 60,000 people were left homeless by the giant earthquake

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:26:51 GMT

Some 60,000 people were left homeless by the giant earthquake in L'Aquila on April 6. Many are still living in tendopoli, or tent cities like this one in San Demetrio.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Journalist Giustino Parisse lost both his children and his father

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:25:30 GMT

Journalist Giustino Parisse, right, lost both his children and his father when his house in Onna collapsed during the L'Aquila earthquake in April. A collection of columns he wrote for Il Centro has recently been published in the book "Quant'era bella la mia Onna," or "How Beautiful was my Onna.".

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Village of Onna was hit particularly hard

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:23:47 GMT

The village of Onna was hit particularly hard by the April 6 earthquake. More than 80 percent of its territory was destroyed and 40 of its 300 inhabitants died when houses collapsed in a pile of rubble.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Miocchi Duilio, 78, recounts his experience

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:22:01 GMT

Everyone in L'Aquila has a story about the April 6 earthquake. Here, Miocchi Duilio, 78, recounts his experience during the violent quake.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Elsa Rosa's living room in Opi

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:20:29 GMT

Earthquake victims celebrate Mass in Elsa Rosa's living room in Opi in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Father Pedro Rodriguez celebrates Mass

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:18:37 GMT

The earthquake on April 6 made the 17th-century church in the Opi, a tiny mountain village about 15 miles east of L'Aquila, "inagibile," or uninhabitable. So Father Pedro Rodriguez celebrates Mass in every Saturday evening in Elsa Rosa's living room.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

18th-century church of Anime Sante in Piazza Duomo

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:16:46 GMT

Among the many medieval buildings damaged by the April 6 earthquake in L'Aquila was the 18th-century church of Anime Sante in Piazza Duomo, the town's main square. Nearly the entire dome crashed to the ground.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Members of the Associazione Nazionale Alpini

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:15:27 GMT

Members of the Associazione Nazionale Alpini, based in the Italian Alps, keep the curious at bay in the earthquake-ravished streets of L'Aquila. They're instantly recognizable by their green wool hats.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Church in the village of Vallecupa

PG Admin5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:13:20 GMT

The church in the village of Vallecupa, nestled in the Apennine mountains, was completely destroyed in the earthquake. Ben Avon resident Josephine Coletti, who grew up in another village nearby, is raising money to help build a new church.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette

Bottom of the tunnel

PG Admin5 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:10:28 GMT

Darrell Sapp/ Post-Gazette

North Shore Connector --- Light reflects on the rings of concrete sections making up one of the tunnels for the North Shore Connector. This is the bottom of the tunnel beneath the Allegheny River, where the tunnel levels off and starts to climb toward the North Shore.

Light reflects

PG Admin5 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:09:32 GMT

Darrell Sapp/ Post-Gazette

North Shore Connector --- Light reflects on the rings of concrete sections making up one of the tunnels for the North Shore Connector.