Abruzzi e Molise

L'Aquila ( LAK-wil-ə, Italian: [ˈlaːkwila] ; Neapolitan: [ˈlaːkwiːlə]) is a city and comune in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. As of 2023, it has a population of 69,558 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 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 theatre, 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).

The 35th G8 summit was held in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, on 8–10 July 2009. It was originally to be held at Sardinian seaside city of La Maddalena, but it was moved to L'Aquila as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after the devastating earthquake that April.The locations of previous summits to have been hosted by Italy include: Venice (1980); Venice (1987); Naples (1994) and Genoa (2001). The G8 summit has evolved beyond being a gathering of world political leaders. The event has become an occasion for a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, activists and civic groups to congregate and discuss a multitude of issues.

Piazza del Duomo is a city square in L'Aquila, Italy.

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. Being one of the most important churches of the city, Santa Maria del Suffragio also became one of the main symbols of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake when, on April 6, 2009, it suffered serious damages and its dome was almost entirely pulled down by the quake. The extensive damage to the church was a direct consequence of a lack of retrofitting. Although The church received a great deal of funding to be architecturally restored and aesthetically 'upholstered' but lacked investment into the protection of its structural integrity; which is a disappointment as it was believed by many to be a building of cultural and architectural significance.

The Palazzo della Congregazione dei Nobili (Palace of the Congregation of the Nobles), better known as Palazzetto dei Nobili (Palace of Nobles) or “Oratorio dei Nobili” (Oratory of Nobles), is a historic building of L'Aquila in Southern Italy. The Palace is located in L’Aquila center at piazza Santa Margherita, 2.

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of L'Aquila (Latin: Archidioecesis Aquilana is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. It was erected as the Diocese of Aquila on 20 February 1257 by Pope Alexander IV and promoted to an archdiocese by Pope Pius IX on 19 January 1876. Pope Paul VI elevated it to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese on 15 August 1972, with the suffragan sees of Avezzano and Sulmona–Valva. The archdiocese's mother church and the seat of its archbishop is the Cattedrale di SS. Massimo e Giorgio. L'Aquila also contains the Basilica of San Bernardino da Siena, which was granted the honorific title of minor basilica by Pope Pius XII, in an Apostolic Letter "Uberrimos Sane Gratiae" of 20 May 1946. It also contains the church of S. Maria di Collemagio, which was begun in 1283, and consecrated on 25 August 1288.

Chiesa di Santa Giusta (Italian for Church of Santa Giusta) is a Romanesque church in L'Aquila (Abruzzo).

The Palazzo Arcivescovile, also palazzo dell’Arcivescovado, is a historic palace in Aquila, seat of the Archdiocese of L'Aquila.

L'Aquila Cathedral (Italian: Duomo dell'Aquila; Cattedrale metropolitana dei Santi Massimo e Giorgio) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, dedicated to Saint Maximus of Aveia and Saint George. It is the episcopal seat of the Archdiocese of L'Aquila.

The Basilica of San Bernardino is a religious 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 facade was built by Silvestro dall'Aquila and later passed to Cola dell'Amatrice, reaching completion in 1542. It is a notable example of 16th century architecture combining Greek, Latin and Christian influences, divided into three orders, consisting of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian styles. The corpse of the saint is guarded inside the church in a mausoleum built by Silvestro dell'Aquila.In 1902, the basilica was declared a national monumental building, and in 1946, Pope Pius XII elevated it to the rank of minor basilica. Following the 2009 earthquake, which caused significant damage to the apse and campanile, repairs and consolidation works were carried out before the basilica was reopened to the community in 2015.In December 2014, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities began managing the basilica through the Abruzzo Museum Complex, which became the Regional Directorate of Museums in December 2019.

Chiesa dei Santi Marciano e Nicandro is a church in L'Aquila, central Italy. It was built in Romanesque style in the course of the 13th century, and, after it had been mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1703, it was renovated in Baroque style. The church was again severely damaged by the earthquake which struck L'Aquila in 2009. The façade in white stone dates from the 14th century. The portal has capitals with the Four Evangelists (left) and the Adoration of the Magi (right), and is surmounted by a circular window which in 1915 replaced the original rose window. The interior dates mostly from the 18th-century renovation, although the original 13th-century structure has survived in the apse exterior, in the presbytery and the clergy house. It houses 14th- and 15th-century frescoes and statues of St. Peter and St. Marcian.

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.