AMATRICE, Italy (AP) — Prince Charles has visited the center of Amatrice, a mountain town that bore the brunt of central Italy's Aug. 24 earthquake.

The prince of Wales was accompanied by the head of Italy's civil protection agency on the tour Sunday that took him to the town's medieval bell tower, which survived the August quake only to be toppled by stronger shocks in October.

The town's mayor, Sergio Pirozzi, declined to accompany them, telling the news agency ANSA he will only enter the town's center when it has been rebuilt because he's "looking toward the future."

About 300 people in mountainous central Italy were killed in the magnitude-6.1 August quake. The October temblors were stronger — up to magnitude 6.6 — but didn't kill anyone as the region's most sensitive areas had already been evacuated.