L’Aquila is a beautiful city open to tourists, a large number of monuments are a real treat for history lovers. It is worth devoting a day or a weekend to visiting the town because there is really something to see. You can easily get around the whole thing on foot, you will find a lot of beautiful churches, a charming city square, a 16th century castle from the Spanish times, and several fountains. The mountainous areas will certainly enchant sports and nature fanatics.
L’Aquila is the capital of the Abruzzo region located in central Italy, two hours by car northeast of Rome. The city was founded on the Aterno River, at the foot of the Abruzzi Apennine, in 1240 by Emperor Frederick II. The name comes from the Latin word “aquila” meaning eagle.
Basilica of San Bernardino
The Basilica of San Bernardino is a building located in L’Aquila, Italy. The church was built, with the adjacent cloister, between 1454 and 1472 in honor of St Bernardino of Siena. The built was completion in 1542. The corpse of the saint is guarded inside the church in a mausoleum built by Silvestro dell’Aquila.
Luminosa Fountain
Fontana Luminosa is an iconic fountain located in L’Aquila. This popular fountain is worth visiting. The origins of Fontana Luminosa date back to 1934. It is a wonderful monument where you can take beautiful photos. A sculpture composed of two bronze women’s bodies supporting a typical Abruzzo pool with a stream of water flowing from it. The fountain is placed on a round bowl, raised from the street level by white steps, topped on both sides with large balls. The fountain is located at the beginning of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the perfect gateway to the city center. It owes its name to the play of light and colors at night. Fountain lighting is also modified for ceremonial reasons associated with public occasions such as national holidays, public and sporting events.
Stabile Theater of Abruzzo
Teatro Stabile d’Abruzzo is one of the production theaters recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities as a theater of significant cultural importance. The founding members are the Abruzzo region and the commune of L’Aquila. Founded in 1963, it is the most important cultural institution in the Abruzzo region, producing unforgettable shows and engaging the most prestigious professionals in the world of entertainment.
Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio
The Basilica of Collemaggio is a symbolic monument of the city. According to tradition, it was built by the will of the hermit Pietro Angelerio da Morrone, who on August 29, 1294 was crowned here as Pope Celestine V. In 1275, the holy monk was said to have received it from the Virgin herself, who appeared to him during a stopover on his way to the Council of Lyon in France, with a request to build a church in his honor (then called “Collemadio”). The basilica captivates with its white and pink cladding made of local stone, refined rosettes, precious portals of the facade, the Holy Door, and exposed wooden trusses.
Forte Spagnolo
In the 15th century, L’Aquila had become the second most powerful city in the Kingdom of Naples after Naples itself. However, in 1504 Aquila was occupied by the Spanish conquerors during the war between the French and the Spaniards for the throne of Naples.
After King Charles V of Spain finally defeated the Aquilan rebels, he ordered the city to build a fortress in the highest spot North of the city; the fortress had been built not to defend the city, but to control it as its cannons pointed to the city. Forte Spagnolo had cost an enormous sum for the times; as a result, works were interrupted, so parts of the castle were never completed.
Piazza del Duomo
Piazza del Duomo is the largest and most important of the squares of the Aquila. Heart of religious power, in contrast to Piazza del Palazzo, the seat of political power, it is the social and cultural center of the city, as well as a meeting point for the people of L’Aquila and seat of the main city events. It has also housed the city market. The Piazza is lined with numerous historical buildings.
Some buildings on the square include:
Cathedral of Saints George and Max
Church of Our Lady
Church of S. Maria del Suffragio
Santa Maria del Suffragio, commonly called the church of Anima Sante (Blessed Souls), is an 18th-century church in L’Aquila, central Italy. It was begun on October 10, 1713, ten years after the 1703 L’Aquila earthquake damaged the Confraternita del Suffragio’s former seat. The Roman architect Carlo Buratti was charged with the work. In 1770 Gianfrancesco Leomporri added a Baroque façade, and years later, in 1805, the church was completed with a neoclassical dome by Giuseppe Valadier.
Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo
The Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo is hosted in the Forte Spagnolo of L’Aquila.
The Museum is on three floors: on the ground floor, there is the giant skeleton of an Archidiskon meridionalis (improperly called mammoth, a prehistoric “elephant”) found a few miles from Aquila in 1954, and an archeological section with pieces of the Italic pre-Roman period, a section with inscriptions and pieces from the Roman towns in Abruzzo, among them a fine Roman calendar from Amiternum (25 AD).
On the first floor the medieval and modern art section, with works of Abruzzese artists of the centuries 13-17th such as: the polyptych by Jacobello del Fiore; a Processional Cross by Nicola da Guardiagrele, a group of wooden and terracotta sculptures such as a St Sebastian by Silvestro dell’Aquila and another by Saturnino Gatti; paintings by Flemish and Roman and Neapolitan artists such as Sebastiano Conca, Giulio Cesare Bedeschini, Francesco Solimena, Francesco de Mura; finally the contemporary art section with such artists as M. Vaccari, Renato Guttuso, Virgilio Guidi, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Orfeo Tamburi, and Remo Brindisi.
Gran Sasso National Park
Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park covers a surface area of 150,000 hectares. It is one of the largest parks in Italy. It offers a number of proposals, itineraries and visits for every season thanks to the richness of its habitats, its massifs, and thanks to the charming historical-architectonical evidences it preserves. The Park consists of three mountain groups: Gran Sasso d’Italia chain, Laga massif, and Gemelli Mountains. The Park is also characterized by the presence of the highest peak of the Apennines, Corno Grande (2,912 meters). On this chain there is the one and only glacier of the Apennines, the so-called Calderone, which is also the southernmost glacier in Europe.
Tommaso Fattori Stadium
Stadio Tommaso Fattori is a multi-use stadium in L’Aquila, Italy. It is currently used mainly for rugby union and football matches. L’Aquila Calcio and L’Aquila Rugby teams play their matches there. The stadium can accommodate 10,000 spectators.
