L’Aquila

Beneath the Gran Sasso massif, L’Aquila is a mountain capital built from ninety-nine castles and rebuilt, again and again, by stubborn civic will. Baroque loggias, Romanesque facades and a UNESCO-listed rite of forgiveness give it a personality no other Italian city quite shares.

Why visit

L’Aquila rewards travellers who like their cities layered and their sightseeing uncrowded. Founded in 1254, according to tradition by an alliance of ninety-nine castles, it preserves one of the most atmospheric medieval street plans in central Italy: narrow quarters called scuse, austere stone churches, Renaissance courtyards and fountains at almost every turn. The city is also a working provincial capital with a university, concert halls and cafés, so its monuments sit inside genuine daily life rather than museum glass. Add a setting of rare drama — the Gran Sasso wall filling the northern horizon — and the ingredients for a memorable stay are all here. In 2026 the city carries the title of Italian Capital of Culture, and its museums, among them the National Museum of Abruzzo and the MAXXI outpost, are drawing national attention. Few visitors linger, which means that those who do can walk the historic quarters almost alone.

Character and history

The city’s founding legend is carved into its symbolism: castles and villages of the surrounding mountains allegedly pooled their resources to build a single city, commemorated in the Fountain of the 99 Spouts of 1272–1274. Prosperity followed, and in 1294 Pope Celestine V granted from here the Bull of Pardon, the first plenary indulgence in Christian history, renewed every year since at the Perdonanza Celestiniana — inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019. Earthquakes have shaped the city’s fate as much as popes: the catastrophe of 1703 redrew the centre in Baroque form, and the shock of 6 April 2009 devastated entire quarters. Reconstruction has been long and contentious, but it has produced something unexpected — a city whose historic fabric is being restored street by street, with palaces, churches and museums reopening on a rolling basis. Walking here today, you witness both memory and renewal at close range.

What to see

Begin at the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, the masterpiece of Abruzzese Romanesque-Gothic with its jewel-toned facade and the tomb of Celestine V, whose Holy Door opens only during the Perdonanza. In the heart of the city, the Cathedral of Saints Massimo and Giorgio faces Piazza del Duomo, while the nearby Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio (Anime Sante) — its roof famously left open to the sky after the 2009 quake — has become the city’s most poignant memorial. The austere Basilica of San Bernardino holds the saint’s Renaissance mausoleum, and medieval gems such as the Church of San Silvestro and Church of San Pietro a Coppito reward slow wandering between the quarters. The Renaissance Spanish Fortress (Forte Spagnolo) shelters the National Museum of Abruzzo (MuNDA), while contemporary art lives at MAXXI L’Aquila in a restored Baroque palace and at the MU.SP.A.C. Experimental Museum of Contemporary Art. Outside the walls, the Roman theatre and amphitheatre of the Amiternum Archaeological Area (San Vittorino) recall the older Sabine-Roman settlement, and the rock-hewn Sanctuary of Madonna d’Appari at Paganica makes a short, lovely excursion. The 1930s ceramic Fontana Luminosa marks the edge of the modern centre.

How to experience

Time your visit to the last week of August, when the Perdonanza Celestiniana fills the streets with a historical procession, the Pope’s Bull is carried through the city and the Holy Door of Collemaggio is opened. At any season, start a morning at the Fountain of the 99 Spouts in the Borgo Rivera quarter, then climb through Santa Maria Paganica to the Baroque Oratory of San Giuseppe de’ Minimi and the basilica of San Giuseppe Artigiano, a secondary Holy Door station during the Perdonanza. Use L’Aquila as a mountain base: the hamlet of Assergi, with its medieval Church of San Pietro Apostolo (Assergi), sits at the foot of the Gran Sasso cable car, and the Vetoio Nature Reserve offers gentle walking minutes from the centre. For a slower afternoon, the regional Wood Museum in the Arischia fraction documents mountain craftsmanship, and the Church of Cristo Re shows the city’s twentieth-century face. End the day with the young crowd around the Fontana Luminosa and dinner in the restored quarters.

Practical planning

L’Aquila sits about 100 km northeast of Rome, reached by bus from Rome’s Tiburtina station or by road via the A24 motorway; the nearest airports are Rome’s and Pescara’s. The city stands at roughly 700 metres of altitude, so evenings are cool even in summer — pack a layer. The historic centre is compact but steep in places; comfortable shoes matter, and driving inside the quarters is restricted, so park at the edges or use the updated local transport links. Museum hours change frequently during ongoing restoration, and access to churches can vary around services and cultural events — check current times on the city’s official tourism portal, quilaquila.it, before setting out. Two days cover the monuments comfortably; a third opens up the Gran Sasso and the surrounding plateau. The tourist office in the centre provides up-to-date maps of what has reopened.

Nearby places

The Peligna and Aterno valleys branch out from the city in every direction. Sulmona, the confetti town in its ring of mountains, makes the easiest half-day trip, while the stone villages of Santo Stefano di Sessanio and Castel del Monte, with the fortress of Calascio nearby, anchor the Gran Sasso high country to the northeast. To the southeast, the medieval quarter of Pacentro and the limestone plateau towns of Scanno and Pescocostanzo lead toward the Majella and the Sagittario valley, and Pescasseroli opens the road into the oldest national park of the Apennines. Nearer still lie Celano, with its castle museum, and Massa d’Albe, gateway to the Roman city of Alba Fucens — both well within an hour’s drive.