Rescuers walk past the bell tower with the clock showing the time of the earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy, August 24, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS
When the earthquake struck on Wednesday, the 20-year-old was sleeping in a family house in Borbone, 18 kilometres (11 miles) from the village of Amatrice which was wiped out by the quake.
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"I felt everything shaking. I was very scared. We got out and didn't go back into the house. We spent the night first on the football pitch, then in the fields," she told local newspaper Corriere di Rieti.
Di Mario, a student of education, was in Borbone for the funeral of her grandmother Domenica, which was eventually held on Thursday on the village square because the church was no longer considered safe.
The quake, which killed at least 267 people, took her back to January 2012 when she was on board the Costa Concordia that hit rocks and capsized off the Tuscany island of Giglio.
"It was a dramatic, horrific experience. I was trapped in the bedroom because the boat was tilting from one side to the other," she said of the shipwreck that left 32 people dead.
"I had to queue up for a life vest and I managed to jump into the last lifeboat, number 25," she said.
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"But the other night, the feeling of impotence faced with what was happening was even stronger," she said of the quake.
On Thursday night she took part in the Miss Umbria beauty pageant. She didn't win, but came away with the Miss Elegance prize.
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