 The first tremor struck early in the morning of 20 May; two further serious aftershocks struck several hours later, and again nine days later, causing widespread damage particularly to buildings already weakened by earlier seismic forces.In Pieve di Cento, the shaking collapsed the cupola of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, showering debris into the nave and threatening 17th-century masterpieces by Guercino, Guido Reni and Lavinia Fontana, and exposing them to the elements.Cardinal Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and responsible for conserving the cultural patrimony of the Holy See, visited the area to draw attention to the plight of the survivors and tweeted his prayer message accompanied by a striking photo of the serene intact faces of the "Madonnina di Pieve di Cento" a weakened plaster-cast effigy of the child Jesus in his mother's arms.