Mayor: Madonna promises $500,000 for quake relief

[April 09, 2009]  PACENTRO, Italy (AP) -- The Material Girl is giving something back to the land of her ancestors.

Madonna has promised $500,000 to help victims of Italy's devastating earthquake, said Fernando Caparso, mayor of Pacentro, the mountainside village where two of the pop star's grandparents were born.

Carparso told The Associated Press on Wednesday that that he had spoken to the pop star's manager and that he was deeply moved by Madonna's effort to assist the town as well as surrounding areas.

"Madonna was the only one who could help us," he said. "Other then being a great singer, a great rock star and an intelligent woman, with this gesture she has become a great woman," he said.

Liz Rosenberg, the pop singer's spokeswoman, confirmed that Madonna had pledged a "substantial amount," in quake relief but didn't disclose the exact figure.

The picturesque village, 100 kilometers (60 miles) from hard-hit L'Aquila, felt Monday's earthquake but did not suffer serious damage. However Caparso said residents were terrified and some have been sleeping in tents or in their cars for fear of being crushed in collapsing buildings.

Caparso said the bulk of Madonna's donation would be destined for areas harder hit.

In this tiny village, located below a snow covered mountain and overlooking a valley of olive groves, residents were mostly appreciative of the gesture -- particularly coming at a time when the area was already experiencing economic problems.

"This was a tragedy for us, and I am very moved by what she did," said Davide Battaglini, 33, who works for Italy's financial police. "Our situation isn't the best, factories have been closing, so a gesture from a star like her is very welcome."

But Rosa Napoli, 90, was less than approving. "She is a woman that men like. She is not the Madonna that is worshipped in church," Napoli said as she left a small church where she attended an evening Mass.

Madonna still has relatives in the town, who live in a four-story home along the main road leading up through the mountainside village. Giuseppe Mirandola, the son of her second cousins, answered the door at the entrance to the home, flanked by potted plants and trees.

"Journalists have been bothering my family for a long time," Mirandola said from the door. "I don't want to talk."

[Associated Press; By VANESSA GERA]

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