The Times today: L’AQUILA, Italy — Italy held a state funeral Friday for the victims of the country’s worst earthquake in three decades, as weeping relatives and officials assembled in a vast outdoor parade ground to mourn the 289 killed by the quake on Monday.

The photos, with the story, are heartbreaking.

For most travelers, Italy is a land of history, beauty, generosity and gentility. Old Rome. Tuscan countrysides. Venician glass and gondolas. The devastating earthquake in Abruzzo is a bleak reminder of the other Italy — the Italy of poverty and suffering. In this other Italy, typically south of Rome, life is anything but sweet. This column in the Times, centering on the life and experiences of the great Italian writer Ignazio Silone, tackles that subject head on.

From The New York Times: L’AQUILA, Italy — More than 90 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 shook central Italy early Monday morning, seriously damaging buildings in the mountainous Abruzzo Region east of Rome, officials said. The whole story is here.

HOW TO HELP: The Italian-American Museum is collecting donations to support the emerging relief effort in Italy. Joseph Scelsa, the museum’s preident, said that checks should be made out to “I.A.M. Earthquake Relief Fund 2009 and mailed or delivered to the museum, at 155 Mulberry Street, at the corner of Grand Street, in Little Italy. Donations may also be made by credit card by calling the museum at (212) 965-9000.

ALSO: The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) has set up a relief fund. Details here.