Firefighters have pulled a dog alive from the rubble of Italy's strongest earthquake in decades and salvaged religious statues and paintings from churches that crumbled after an earthquake hit central Italy on Sunday.

Video showed rescuers, guided by their own sniffer dog, digging into the rubble to free a dog that emerged covered in dust and looking dazed but unharmed.

Norcia's city walls were damaged and its churches badly hit, including the 13th century basilica of Saint Benedict, which collapsed, leaving just its facade standing.