France’s Italian-born first lady donates $70,000 to L’Aquila quake survivors

France’s first lady visits quake-torn city

L’AQUILA, Italy — France’s Italian-born first lady has pledged a personal donation of euro50,000 ($70,000) to a hospital treating quake survivors.

Carla Bruni toured the damaged central Italian town of L’Aquila and said her husband’s government will contribute euro3.2 million to help repair the dome of the Santa Maria du Suffragio church on the town’s central square. It was one of many monuments damaged in the April 6 quake that killed nearly 300 and displaced another 50,000.

Bruni was visiting the quake zone on the sidelines of a world summit that her husband was attending.

The former top model was greeted with cries of “Bella! Bella!” beautiful in Italian.