BULLDOZERS have continued the clear-up operation in an Italian town where 230 people died in an earthquake as investigators try to figure out if negligence in enforcing building codes added to the death toll.

Amatrice bore the brunt of destruction from Wednesday’s 6.2-magnitude quake while 11 others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles north of Amatrice.

Meanwhile, Italy’s state museums embarked on a fundraising campaign, donating their proceeds on Sunday to relief and reconstruction efforts in the earthquake zone.

Culture Minster Dario Franceschini has appealed to Italians to “go to a museum in a sign of solidarity with people affected by the earthquake”. On Twitter, the appeal came along with the hashtag #museums4italy.

It is one of several efforts that have sprung up to help the towns rebuild; restaurants in Italy and elsewhere are serving up pasta Amatriciana, the region’s most famous dish, in another fundraising effort.

The early hours of yesterday were relatively calm, the first since the quake struck without strong aftershocks.

In all, the region has seen 1,820 aftershocks, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

On Saturday, mourners prayed, hugged, wept and even applauded as coffins carrying earthquake victims passed by at a state funeral in the town of Ascoli Piceno.

The caskets of 35 people had been brought to a community gym, one of the few structures in the area still intact. The local bishop, Giovanni D’Ercole, celebrated Mass beneath a crucifix he had retrieved from one of the damaged churches.

As all of Italy observed a day of national mourning, Bishop D’Ercole urged residents to rebuild their communities.

“Don’t be afraid to cry out your suffering – I have seen a lot of this – but please do not lose courage,” he said.

Nobody has been found alive in the ruins since Wednesday and hopes have vanished of finding any more survivors.

The number still missing is uncertain due to the many visitors seeking a last taste of summer in the Apennine mountains.

President Sergio Mattarella arrived by helicopter on Saturday and was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice by its mayor, Sergio Pirozzi. The president thanked rescue workers who have been working around the clock.

Tomorrow, a memorial service will be held for the dead of Amatrice on the battered town’s outskirts.

Hundreds of people have been left homeless by the quake, with many spending their nights in tent cities and a gym in Amatrice.

The building codes investigation will focus on a number of structures, including a primary school in Amatrice that crumbled when the quake hit. The school was renovated in 2012 to resist earthquakes at a cost of €700,000 (£596,000).

Questions also surround a bell tower in Accumoli that collapsed, killing a family of four. The bell tower had recently been restored with special funds allocated after Italy’s last major earthquake in 2009.

Giuseppe Saieva, the prosecutor in Rieti, capital of the province that includes Amatrice and Accumoli, says the high human death toll “cannot only be considered the work of fate”.