Premier-designate Paolo Gentiloni has ancestors of Italian nobility that were from the Marche town of Tolentino, The town was among the worst hit by two big earthquakes that shook central Italy at the end of October, two months after a devastating quake claimed almost 300 lives.

Mayor Giuseppe Pezzanesi said Gentiloni returns to the area rather often. The family residence is near St Nicholas Basilica, which was seriously damaged in the earthquake. Gentiloni visited the basilica recently and called it "a world symbol". The former foreign minister in the government of ex-premier Matteo Renzi, who resigned last week, has maintained close ties to the town that was the birthplace of his ancestors, where he was been granted honorary citizenship last summer.

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Source: http://www.ansa.it/