The case, which has torn apart the village of San Giovanni in Puglia, was adjourned until March 3 by the court at Larino.

The defendants include Giuseppe Uliano, head of the company which carried out work on the school, and former mayor Antonio Borrelli, who lost a daughter in the quake and is being prosecuted for allowing the building to be used when it was not safe.

The school was the only building which collapsed in the earthquake, which also killed two other people and left 39 children injured, two of whom can no longer walk.