A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy on Saturday, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), but no damages were reported.

The quake occurred at 10:16 p.m. local time (2116 GMT) with its epicenter at a depth of 10.7 km in the central town of Sora, in the central region of Lazio, of which Rome is the capital city.

So far, no casualties have been reported, but the shake especially triggered panic in the nearby region of Abruzzo, that was jolted in 2009 by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in L'Aquila, which killed more than 300 people.

Also on Saturday, an Italian court convicted three technicians and one architect to terms up to four years in jail over the collapse of a university residence in L'Aquila during the quake, in which eight students were killed.

Last year, six scientists and an official were also found guilty of having provided "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory" information about the danger of the tremors felt ahead of the deadly shake.

There is a long history of earthquakes in Italy that, located at the meeting point of the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate, is characterized by considerable seismic and volcanic activity.

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