A 45-year-old Neapolitan was detained on suspicion of attempted looting in Amatrice after he tried to break into an empty house in the quake-devastated mountainside town, police said late on Thursday.
Police said the man is the first alleged looter to have been arrested since the magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck central Italy in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The Neapolitan resisted arrest when police caught him trying to prise open the lock on the house's front door, attacking one officer with a screwdriver and trying to run off, police said.
A rail ticket from Naples to Rome dated 24 August - the day of the earthquake - which they found in the man's pocket was incriminating evidence against him, police said.
News of the arrest triggered a backlash on social media in Italy.
"The worst possible things on earth should happen to the #looters that go to steal from earthquake victims," tweeted @presidente1976.
"May the #earthquake #looters who steal from the dead roast in hell," @fe_desanctis wrote on Twitter.
Wednesday's earthquake flattened several towns in Lazio and Marche when it struck the central Apennines at 3.36 am on Wednesday, killing over 260 people, injuring 400 and leaving several thousand homeless.
