Theme Week Abruzzo – L’Aquila

Wednesday, 24 September 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  4 minutes

City center © flickr.com - elparainbow/cc-by-2.0

City center © flickr.com – elparainbow/cc-by-2.0

L’Aquila (meaning “The Eagle”) is a city and comune in central Italy, both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L’Aquila. It has a population of 70,500 inhabitants. 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 is approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) east-northeast of Rome, with which it is connected by an autostrada through the mountains. 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 11 cold months and one cool one.

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. Home to the University of L’Aquila, it is a lively college town and, as such, has many cultural institutions: a repertory theater, a symphony orchestra, a fine-arts academy, a state conservatory, a film institute. There are several ski resorts in the surrounding province: (Campo Imperatore, Ovindoli, Pescasseroli, Roccaraso, Scanno).

Palazzo dell'Emiciclo © Lasacrasillaba Fonte Cerreto, base of the cable car to the Gran Sasso d'Italia © Lasacrasillaba © flickr.com - elparainbow/cc-by-2.0 Costa Masciarelli with the Bazzano Gate and the Gran Sasso mountain in the background © Lasacrasillaba Castello © LIAP/cc-by-3.0 City center © flickr.com - elparainbow/cc-by-2.0
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Costa Masciarelli with the Bazzano Gate and the Gran Sasso mountain in the background © Lasacrasillaba
Although less than an hour-and-a-half drive from Rome, and a popular summer and winter resort with Romans hiking and skiing in the surrounding mountains, the city has not yet been heavily affected by foreign tourism. 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 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.

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.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on University of L’Aquila, Wikivoyage L’Aquila and Wikipedia L’Aquila. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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