L’Aquila, meaning “The Eagle” is a city in central Italy, both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L’Aquila. It has a population of 72,948 inhabitants, but has a daily presence in the territory of 100,000 people for study, tertiary activities, jobs and tourism. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the Aterno river, it is surrounded by the Apennine Mountains, with the Gran Sasso d’Italia to the north-east.
L’Aquila sits upon a hillside in the middle of a narrow valley; tall snow-capped mountains of the Gran Sasso massif flank the town. A maze of narrow streets, lined with Baroque and Renaissance buildings and churches, open onto elegant piazzas. Close to the highest of the Apennine summits, L’Aquila is positioned at an altitude of 721 meters in the Valley of the Aterno-Pescara, wedged between no fewer than four mountain peaks above 2,000 meters.
The mountains block the city off from warm humid air currents from the Mediterranean, and give rise to a climate that is cool in comparison to most of central Italy, and dry. It has been said that the city enjoys each year eleven cold months and one cool one.
L’Aquila is approximately 100 kilometers (63 miles) to the east-north-east of Rome, with which it is now connected by an autostrada through the mountains.
The city’s construction was begun by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily out of several already existing villages (ninety-nine, according to local tradition; see Amiternum), as a bulwark against the power of the papacy. The name was switched to Aquila degli Abruzzi in 1861, and L’Aquila in 1939. After the death of Conrad, the city was destroyed by his brother Manfred in 1259, but soon rebuilt by Charles I of Anjou, its successor as king of Sicily. The walls were completed in 1316.
The power of L’Aquila was based on the close connection between the city and its mother-villages, which had established the city as a federation, each of them building a borough and considering it as a part of the mother-village. That is also why number 99 is so important in the architecture of L’Aquila, and a very peculiar monument, the Fountain of the 99 Spouts (Fontana delle 99 Cannelle), was given its name to celebrate the ancient origin of the town. The City Council was originally composed of the Mayors of the villages, and the city had no legal existence until King Charles II of Naples appointed a “Camerlengo”, responsible for city tributes (previously paid separately by each of its mother-villages). Later, the Camerlengo also took political power, as President of the City Council.
From its beginnings the city constituted an important market for the surrounding countryside, which provided it with a regular supply of food: from the fertile valleys came the precious saffron; the surrounding mountain pastures provided summer grazing for numerous transhumant flocks of sheep, which in turn supplied abundant raw materials for export and, to a lesser extent, small local industries, which in time brought craftsmen and merchants from outside the area.
In the middle of the 14th century the city was struck by plague epidemics (1348, 1363) and earthquakes (1349). Reconstruction began soon, however. In the 14th-15th century Jewish families came to live in the city, while the generals of the Franciscan Order chose the city as the seat of the Order’s general chapters. In 1481 Adam of Rottweil, a pupil and collaborator of Johann Gutenberg, obtained permission to establish a printing press in L’Aquila.
The Osservanti branch of the Franciscan order had a decisive influence on L’Aquila. As a result of initiatives by Friar Giovanni da Capistrano and Friar Giacomo della Marca, Lombard masters undertook, in the relatively underdeveloped north-east of the city, an imposing series of buildings centring on the hospital of Saint Salvatore (1446) and the convent and the basilica of Saint Bernardino. The construction work was long and difficult, mainly because of the earthquake of 1461, which caused the buildings to collapse, and the translation of the body of S. Bernardino did not take place until May 14, 1472. The whole city suffered serious damage on the occasion of the earthquake, and two years went by before repairs on the churches and convents began.
A period of freedom and prosperity ended in the 16th century, when Spanish viceroy Philibert van Oranje partially destroyed L’Aquila and established Spanish feudalism in its countryside. The city, separated from its roots, never developed again. Ancient privileges were revoked. L’Aquila was again destroyed by an earthquake in 1703. Successive earthquakes have repeatedly damaged the city’s large Duomo, and destroyed the original dome of the basilica of San Bernardino, designed along the lines of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The city was also sacked two times by French troops in 1799.
The city was struck by an earthquake in December 1315 seriously damaging the San Francesco Church. Another earthquake struck in 1349 killing about 800 people. Other earthquakes struck in 1452, then in November 1461, and again in 1501 and 1646. On February 3, 1703 a major earthquake struck the town. More than 3.000 people died and almost all the churches collapsed; Rocca Calascio, the highest fortress in Europe was also ruined by this event, yet the town survived. L’Aquila was then repopulated by decision of Pope Clement XI. The town was rocked by earthquake again in 1706. The most serious earthquake in the history of the town struck on July 31, 1786, when more than 6.000 people died. On June 26, 1958 an earthquake of 5.0 magnitude struck the town. On April 6, 2009, an earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck central Italy with its epicentre near L’Aquila. Many buildings in L’Aquila were damaged. Italian media reports confirmed that many historic buildings collapsed in the centre of the city, and at least 294 deaths, 1,500 injuries, and 40,000 homeless have been reported. There were many students trapped in a partially collapsed dormitory. The April 6 earthquake was felt throughout Abruzzo; as far away as Rome, other parts of Lazio, Marche, Molise, Umbria, and Campania.
In the highest part of the town is the massive Spanish fort (Forte Spagnolo), erected by the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo in 1534. It is currently home to the National Museum of Abruzzo.
The Cathedral of San Massimo (Duomo) was built in the 13th century, but crumbled down during the 1703 earthquake. The most recent façade is from the 19th century, but after the earthquake of 2009 and subsequent aftershocks the transept and possibly more of the Cathedral has collapsed.
The church of Saint Bernardino of Siena (1472) has a fine Renaissance façade by Nicolò Filotesio (commonly called Cola dell’Amatrice), and contains the monumental tomb of the saint, decorated with beautiful sculptures, and executed by Silvestro Ariscola in 1480.
The church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, just outside the town, has a very fine Romanesque façade of simple design (1270-1280) in red and white marble, with three finely decorated portals and a rose-window above each. The two side doors are also fine. The interior contains the mausoleum of Pope Celestine V erected in 1517. Many smaller churches in the town have similar façades (S. Giusta, S. Silvestro and others).
The town also contains some fine palaces: the municipality has a museum, with a collection of Roman inscriptions and some illuminated service books. The Palazzi Dragonetti and Persichetti contain private collections of pictures. Outside the town is the Fontana delle novantanove cannelle, a fountain with ninety-nine jets distributed along three walls, constructed in 1272. The source of the fountain is still unknown.
A well-known city landmark is the Fontana Luminosa (“Luminous Fountain”), a sculpture of two women bearing large jars, built in the 1930s. The local cemetery includes the grave of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a 19th‑century German gay rights pioneer, who lived and died at L’Aquila: every year, gay people from all over the world meet at the cemetery to honour his memory.
The surrounding area boasts Roman ruins (the important Roman city of Amiternum), ancient monasteries, and numerous castles. The best-known of these is Rocca Calascio (used in the 1980s as the location for the movie Ladyhawke), which is the highest castle in Italy and one of the highest in Europe. To the east of L’Aquila lie Teramo and the village of Valle San Giovanni.
Frazione, villages surrounding L’Aquila include: Aquilio, Aragno, Aringo, Arischia, Assergi, Bagno, Bazzano, Camarda, Cansatessa, Casaline, Cermone, Cese, Civita di Bagno, Colle di Preturo, Colle di Sassa, Colle Roio – Poggio di Roio, Collebrincioni, Collefracido, Coppito, Filetto, Foce, Forcelle, Genzano, Gignano, Monticchio, Onna, Paganica, Pagliare di Sassa, Pescomaggiore, Palombaia, Pettino, Pianola, Pile, Pizzutillo, Poggio Roio, Poggio Santa Maria, Pozza di Preturo, Pratelle, Preturo, Ripa, Roio Piano – Poggio di Roio, San Giacomo alto, San Giuliano, San Gregorio, San Leonardo, San Marco Di Preturo, San Martino di Sassa, Santa Rufina, Sant’Angelo, Sant’Elia, Santi, San Vittorino, Sassa, Tempera, Torretta, Valle Pretara, Vallesindola, Vasche.
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