L’Aquila destination guide
The rebuilt baroque facade of Santa Maria di Suffragio on L’Aquila’s main square
L’Aquila, an imperial phoenix and cultural capital of medieval art and architecture, is rising again. In this destination guide, we look at how the history of this mountain town and its connections beyond the region ensured its contemporary revival after the devastating 2009 earthquake.
The capital of the Abruzzo region, L’Aquila is perched high in the Apennines at an elevation of 714 metres above sea level, and this eyrie of a city is appropriately named for the eagle. Tradition holds that this is because L’Aquila was founded in 1240 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and it was thus given the symbol of his imperial ensign.
L’Aquila – a major medieval economic centre
Today L’Aquila seems particularly remote, even though it is less than 120km from Rome. Its Apennine location requires a journey through stunning scenery of river valleys and mountain passes, and it’s hard to imagine that its position on the spine of Italy’s most significant mountain chain could be an ingredient of its medieval success.
A number of villages already existed in this location when Frederick expanded his power base in southern Italy into the Apennines, but it was the taxation and custom duties that the emperor granted the new residents that guaranteed its medieval expansion.
Success was thanks to a medieval super-highway for sheep. The so-called Tratturo Magno was a network of shepherds’ tracks that led all the way from the Apennines in Tuscany, through the high pastures of Abruzzo’s Gran Sasso and the Majella, and down onto the plains of Puglia.
Stone-built shepherds’ huts with conical roofs, pilgrims’ chapels and medieval roadside fountains still lie alongside Abruzzo’s roads, and L’Aquila was one of the main gathering places for those using them. This held true for both the sheep and their shepherds – who still depart every year from L’Aquila’s beautiful basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, to mark the beginning of the Tratturo Magno – and also for the merchants who came to deal in their wool.
Wool and finished cloth were the most significant Italian commodities of the Middle Ages, and the Medici family, great investors in both as well as in the financial services that their sale required, even took control of the local village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio to better consolidate their position.
Each water spout on L’Aquila’s famous fountain is different to the next
What to see in central L’Aquila
A number of L’Aquila’s most important sites are still connected to its medieval prominence as a waystation on the transhumance route. The Fontana delle 99 Cannelle (or Fountain of 99 Spouts) lies just below the town centre. You’ll pass it if you walk from L’Aquila’s town centre to its train station.
Built out of the local pink and white limestone that characterises many of the town’s palaces, churches and fountains, the fountain boasts almost 100 water spouts, each with a carved head totally different from those alongside it. The fountain was primarily used by the medieval women of L’Aquila, engaged in their laundry, but it also gives a sense of the infrastructure required to host so many travellers and their animals.
Another great medieval power is represented in L’Aquila by the basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. In the thirteenth century, the pope was one of Europe’s most important leaders, and Abruzzo native Pietro da Morrone found himself unexpectedly elected to this position in 1294. A monk who founded the Celestine order and rejuvenated a number of hermitages in the mountains around L’Aquila, he reigned for only five months before resigning in controversial circumstances.
There are many sites dedicated to his memory in Abruzzo, and L'Aquila’s Santa Maria di Collemaggio is one of the most beautiful. Rebuilt a number of times due to earthquakes, most recently after significant damage wrought by the 2009 earthquake, this fine Gothic building houses important frescoes and the sixteenth-century tomb of Celestine V, who was re-interred here. Celestine V granted a special pardon to the faithful who visited this basilica during a jubilee celebrated every year in August. A special door built to commemorate the indulgence is opened only on this day, and it’s still the most important religious feast day in the town.
Celestine V was not the only religious figure to bestow favour on L’Aquila. The popular Franciscan friar, Bernardino of Siena, made many trips here in the fifteenth century and after his death in L’Aquila in 1444 – followed by his rapid canonisation – the striking basilica of San Bernardino was built. It houses his body and accommodates the pilgrims who still pay their respects.
The medieval and Renaissance stonemasons, woodcarvers and architects of the Abruzzo are relatively unsung outside of this region, but they had to understand local materials and work with seismic conditions in complex ways. Silvestro dall’Aquila and Cola dell’Amatrice, who worked on the design of basilica’s façade, are two noteworthy examples of this local skill. Inside, don’t miss the elegant fifteenth-century mausoleum, a masterwork of Abruzzo sculpture and the most important Renaissance artwork in Abruzzo.
Although L’Aquila declined when it passed to rule by the Kingdom of Aragon and, later, the Spanish empire, it was nevertheless embellished with significant palaces and churches in the baroque style. One of these, the Palazzo Ardinghelli, has since the 2009 earthquake been the symbolic centre for MAXXI L’Aquila, a satellite venue of Rome’s national contemporary art museum. It’s well worth a visit.
While it’s usually the local cathedral or duomo that cultural travellers in Italy make a beeline for, in L’Aquila we’d recommend a visit to a different baroque church, located in the Piazza del Duomo. This area of the city really suffered in the most recent earthquake, and there are still many buildings – including the cathedral – undergoing significant rehabilitation works in this area.
One, the church of Santa Maria del Suffragio, has been repaired and converted into a moving memorial to those who lost their lives in the 2009 earthquake. In the night of 06 April 2009, a significant tremor had its epicentre in L’Aquila and was followed by thousands of aftershocks. The current estimation of loss of life in the city stands at 308, and a photo register in a small chapel of this church allows for the commemoration of each victim. It is moving to pass from the outstanding restoration of the baroque church into this quiet side chapel, where candles flicker and local residents come to remember and pray for their loved ones.
The dramatic countryside around L’Aquila offers a number of interesting possibilities for day trips
L'Aquila: the eagle rises
The city’s recovery from the 2009 earthquake has been long, dogged by the kind of political and social scandals that have characterised the response to similar events in Sicily and Umbria. But the signs of L’Aquila’s recovery are positive, and a real movida now characterises the city’s energy.
Locals – particularly young families – are moving back into restored homes in the centre of the city, opening restaurants that are marked by their youthful enthusiasm. The city was chosen as Italy’s Capital of Culture in 2026, a move that always stimulates domestic tourism and allows for significant works in public squares and historic buildings. Mid-sized hotels are being repaired, renovated and re-opened, allowing for cultural tourists to use the city as a comfortable base for exploring the Abruzzo region.
Possibilities for day trips from L’Aquila are many and varied, from a trip into the mountains at Santo Stefano di Sessanio – an abandoned village revitalised as an albergo diffuso or “diffused hotel” – and the nearby scenic Rocca di Calascio ruined fortress (above), to a trip by cable car up to the top of Gran Sasso, where the wildflower-studded pastures of the Campo Imperatore, or Emperor’s Field, stretch almost as far as the eye can see. The tiny medieval oratory of San Pellegrino is celebrated as Abruzzo’s medieval “Sistine Chapel” and the Grotte di Stiffe are one of Italy’s most important, and easily visited, cave systems.
Gastronomy of L’Aquila
The capital of the Abruzzo region is also an excellent place to sample the local cuisine. Traditionally a champion of the “peasants’ food” one would expect from shepherds in remote mountains, Abruzzo also has a significant stretch of coastline. As a result, you can’t go wrong with mare e monti, or surf and turf.
But on the side of L’Aquila’s mountain cuisine in particular, be sure to sample arrosticini, the little skewers of lamb that are roasted over open coals and can be found all over the region. Saffron was an important crop in the Middle Ages and is still grown in Navelli and just outside L’Aquila, so it’s also worth giving that a try. Pasta lovers have the local options of maccheroni alla chitarra, spaghetti made on a traditional mandolin, or the pancetta-based tomato sauce of Amatrice, better known as pasta all’amatriciana. Smallgoods and sheep milk cheeses also characterise the local cuisine.
And while you’re dining in L’Aquila, be sure to sample some of the Abruzzo region’s increasingly well-regarded wines. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the best known red, and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo its white counterpart, but you could also keep your eyes open for Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, a rosé with the DOC appellation, and Pecorino, which is a white wine with a growing international reputation.
Abruzzo’s mouthwatering cuisine includes arrosticini