Pope Benedict will visit the devastated city of L'Aquila on April 28 and pray at the ruins of a student dormitory that has become a symbol of Italy's worst earthquake in three decades, the Vatican said today.

The Pope has delayed his trip so as not to interfere with rescue operations after the April 6 disaster. He will also travel to the medieval mountain village of Onna, where around 40 of the 250 inhabitants died.

In all, the quake killed 294 people in the central Italian region of Abruzzo and left some 65,000 homeless, many of them now sheltering in tent villages or hotels paid for by the government.

A large number of the dead in L'Aquila, the town worst hit by the quake, were students at the local university.

The Pope will meet representatives of the survivors and rescue workers, and visit the damaged Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, which attracts thousands of pilgrims a year.

The government has estimated reconstruction of the region will cost roughly 12 billion euros ($16 billion).

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged the work will be completed swiftly. Reconstruction after previous quakes in southern Italy has dragged on for decades amid allegations of corruption and mafia interference.