L'Aquila

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L'Aquila
coat of arms
L'Aquila (Italy)
L'Aquila
Country Italy
region Abruzzo
province L'Aquila  (AQ)
Coordinates 42 ° 21 '  N , 13 ° 24'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 20 '56 "  N , 13 ° 23' 53"  E
height 714  m slm
surface 467 km²
Residents 69,710 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 149 inhabitants / km²
Factions Aragno , Arischia , Assergi , Bazzano, Camarda, Coppito, Filetto, Onna , Paganica , Pescomaggiore, Pianola, Roio, San Gregorio, Sant'Elia, San Vittorino , Sassa, Tempera
Post Code 67100
prefix 0862
ISTAT number 066049
Popular name Aquilani
Patron saint San Massimo, Sant'Equizio, San Pietro Celestino , San Bernardino da Siena
Website L'Aquila
View of L'Aquila (December 2008)
View of L'Aquila (December 2008)

L'Aquila [ ˈlaːkwila ] ( Italian for the eagle ) is the capital of the Abruzzo region and the province of L'Aquila in Italy . L'Aquila has 69,710 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) and is 118 km northeast of Rome and 106 km west of Pescara .

Surname

When it was founded in the 13th century, the city was given the name Aquila (eagle), which is probably derived from the old name of the place Accula or Acquillo (small stream, water-rich place), but also alludes to the imperial eagle, which is expressed in the city's coat of arms comes. In 1861 it was renamed Aquila degli Abruzzi . It has been called L'Aquila since 1939 .

geography

Location of the city of L'Aquila in the province of the same name

L'Aquila is located at around 700 meters in the wide Aterno valley . It is dominated on all sides by the Abruzzo mountains , including to the east the Gran Sasso d'Italia , the highest mountain on the Italian mainland outside the Alps. The municipality has a very large area, to which, in addition to the town center, there are numerous villages and hamlets in the Aterno valley and in Altopiano delle Rocche. A large part of the municipality belongs to the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park , the seat of which is in the suburb of Assergi.

The neighboring villages are Antrodoco ( RI ), Barete , Barisciano , Borgorose (RI), Cagnano Amiterno , Campotosto , Capitignano , Crognaleto ( TE ), Fano Adriano (TE), Fossa , Isola del Gran Sasso d'Italia (TE), Lucoli , Magliano de 'Marsi , Ocre , Pietracamela (TE), Pizzoli , Rocca di Cambio , Rocca di Mezzo , Santo Stefano di Sessanio , Scoppito and Tornimparte .

geology

The Gran Sasso seen from L'Aquila

The Apennines are traversed by a plate boundary , which is why L'Aquila was frequently hit by earthquakes. The first recorded earthquake took place on December 3, 1315. On February 2, 1703, a severe earthquake claimed 2,400 victims. An earthquake on July 31, 1786 caused damage to the city. The city ​​was also affected by the earthquake in Avezzano on January 13, 1915 and June 24, 1958. During the earthquake in L'Aquila on April 6, 2009, parts of the old town were destroyed. Along Via XX. Severe damage was recorded on the 1st of September. The villages in the eastern municipality were hit hardest, including the district of Onna . 308 people died and - according to estimates - around 17,000 were left homeless.

history

L'Aquila is one of the few large medieval cities that were founded. In 1230 it was built at the will of Emperor Frederick II as Aquila on the site of - according to tradition - 99 villages. He wanted to secure the influence of the Kingdom of Sicily in the north by building the city . For this purpose 99 districts of the province were represented in the city. In 1254 its construction was completed under Friedrich's son Conrad IV .

Since then, the number 99 has had a special meaning for the Aquilans. The clock on the town hall tower strikes 99 times and in the “Fontana delle 99 cannelle” (fountain of 99 tubes) the water bubbles out of 93 masks and 6 simple tubes.

Its city wall was completely built in 1316. Soon one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Naples, a chamberlain was added to the city council under Charles II .

In the 15th century it had about 8,000 inhabitants and was the most important fortress in the Kingdom of Naples. It became a center of the Renaissance . In 1528 the city was conquered by Emperor Charles V for the Spanish crown. The city rebelled against foreign rule. To maintain their power and as protection against the discontented Aquilans, the Spaniards built a strong fortress ( Forte Spagnolo ). Today the fortress, which has withstood the centuries very well, is the seat of the National Museum of Abruzzo and hosts concerts.

L'Aquila around 1703

After the earthquake of 1786, the city was partly rebuilt in the Baroque style.

After unification with the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, Abruzzo was left behind from economic development and became an emigration area. An economic upswing only got underway after the Second World War .

On April 6, 2009, an earthquake destroyed large parts of the city. There were 308 fatalities, 33,672 people had to leave their homes, and of these, 22,807 people are still living in government housing projects. While large parts of the city center were still closed in 2014, reconstruction has now begun; some cafes and the university are open again. Nevertheless, the city is still years away from normal everyday life.

The long-time Prime Minister at the time, Silvio Berlusconi, promised immediate help to the earthquake victims in L'Aquila. There is evidence that the mafia has infiltrated the authorities and that aid is seeping away from it. “It took almost five years for construction work in L'Aquila to even begin in earnest. When Mario Monti , Berlusconi's successor as head of government, visited L'Aquila in 2012, he was surprised that all the streets in the city center were still blocked off because of buildings in danger of collapsing. When asked whether he expected the city to be in such a state three years after the earthquake, Monti replied: "To be honest, no." For this reason, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also sharply criticized the reconstruction: The plans for the reconstruction of the city are inefficient, uncoordinated and short-sighted. There is no strategy for the future of the city. ”In January 2014, four people were arrested on suspicion of corruption during the reconstruction work, including the former city council and an ex-municipal council. In total, it is about half a million euros in bribes that entrepreneurs are said to have paid for renovation and security contracts after the earthquake in 2009.

Population development

year 1861 1881 1901 1921 1936 1951 1971 1991 2001 2013
Residents 33,569 39,072 43,829 48.204 51,160 54,633 60.131 66,813 68.503 70,967

Source: ISTAT

Culture and way of life before and after the 2009 earthquake

Alley with residential houses in the old town of L'Aquila
Palazzo della Prefettura after the 2009 earthquake

The city had experienced an economic boom in the years before the 2009 earthquake. As a university town (founded in 1458) it housed a pulsating, dynamic and culturally rich life. Jazz concerts and theater performances took place regularly. There was also a daily market.

The city is characterized by numerous “piazzas”, all adorned with fountains, churches and palazzi. As of 2009 there were numerous restaurants. In the warmer months, life mainly takes place outside.

Because of its cultural life of its own, the American pianist Arthur Rubinstein described L'Aquila as the “ Salzburg of Abruzzo”.

The historic city center, the center of social life, was almost completely destroyed in the earthquake and remained cordoned off for years. Funds flowed into questionable projects and into the pockets of investors, and the mafia also earned money from the reconstruction contracts. Almost a decade later, there is no longer a central place in L'Aquila where people can meet. The new settlements and shopping centers built after the earthquake are kilometers away from the old town, which has become an abandoned place. The reconstruction of the center was only recently started (as of 2018). For many houses after almost ten years it was too late to renovate, they had to be demolished. Since then, the historic city center has been a large-scale construction site.

  • Cathedral Square 2008

  • Cathedral Square 2017

  • Destroyed house

  • Earthquake-proof houses in L'Aquila

Attractions

Santa Maria del Suffragio

In the city center, those interested in art will find small sights in every corner: churches and frescoes from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque, charming courtyards, arcades, "Palazzi Nobiliari" (noble palazzi) and mansions (Palazzo Centi, Palazzo Dragonetti, the Renaissance mansion of Messer Jacopo di Notar Nanni, the villa of Buccio di Ranallo, Palazzo Alfieri and others).

The place has a lot of medieval buildings in the center as well as buildings from the early modern period, such as the monumental Church of the Holy Sepulcher of St. Bernardine of Siena with a facade from 1525.

The St. Bernard Basilica and numerous other sights were badly damaged in the earthquake on April 6, 2009. On the day of the earthquake, the President of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena , Giuseppe Mussari, promised to finance the restoration in the RAI broadcast Porta a Porta .

Church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio

Below the old town lies the grave of Pope Celestine V in the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio at the gates of the city, where he had founded a hermitage before being elected Pope and in which he was enthroned . The basilica was begun in 1287 and has a remarkable Romanesque-Gothic facade with a white and pink pattern, with the horizontal scheme typical of Abruzzo.

Forte Spagnolo

The Forte Spagnolo fort from the time of Charles V once served as a fortress against the rebellious L'Aquila. Today it houses the National Museum of Abruzzo with ancient and sacred art and a mammoth skeleton.

The Fontana delle 99 Cannelle (fountain of 99 tubes), which stands at one of the old town gates on the valley side, dates back to 1272. The tubes, 93 of which are masked, symbolize the forts, which merged into the town of L'Aquila. After being severely damaged by the 2009 earthquake, the fountain was restored and opened to the public on December 16, 2010 as the city's first monument.

About 9 km from the city are the ruins of the city of the Sabine Amiternum , who died in 293 BC. Was conquered by the Romans. The best preserved monuments are the amphitheater and the theater.

The church of Santa Giusta is located in Bazzano, part of L'Aquila. It was founded in the 9th century. In the current building there are ancient and medieval spoils . The facade dates from 1238. It shows the typical Abruzzo corner reinforcement. There were various changes later. The window above the portal was not given its current appearance until the Baroque period.

The grave of the Latin, lawyer and pioneer of LGBT human rights Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in L'Aquila has become an internationally recognized attraction for tourists. The city administration named the square in front of the castle after this pioneer of the gay civil rights movement, who found his adopted home in the city from June 1883 until his death in July 1895.

  • Facade of the Basilica of San Bernardino

  • Piazza del Duomo with Chiesa delle Anime Sante (left), 2011

  • amphitheater

  • Fontana delle 99 cannelle

  • Grave of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

  • Museo nazionale d'Abruzzo

  • Auditorium del Parco

Sports

The top-class sports club is L'Aquila Rugby, which is competing in the second Italian division after relegation in the 2015/16 season. L'Aquila Rugby is five-time Italian champion (last time in 1995).

The local football club L'Aquila Calcio is active in the fourth-highest division, the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione , in the 2010/11 season .

In 2010, the city was the destination of a stage of the Giro d'Italia for the 9th time .

traffic

L'Aquila has good connections to Rome, Teramo and the Adriatic coast via the A24 ( Strada dei Parchi ) motorway . It is also the intersection of the SS 5 Via Tiburtina-Valeria and the SS17 Via dell'Appennino Abruzzese e Appulo Sannitico to Apulia .

L'Aquila is on the Terni - Sulmona railway line . In addition to the L'Aquila airfield, there is another small airfield ( Aviosuperficie ) for general aviation .

politics

On April 23, 2009, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that the G8 summit would be relocated to L'Aquila; According to Berlusconi, the cabinet wanted to send a "positive sign" for the earthquake region.

Twin cities

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the town:

literature

Web links

Commons : L'Aquila  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ^ La Repubblica April 6, 2009
  3. ^ Spiegel Online, accessed on April 21, 2009
  4. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of April 2, 2014
  5. ↑ spiegel.de, July 25, 2011: A lot of money for little reconstruction
  6. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : The Eternal Construction Site of L'Aquila , August 24, 2016, accessed September 12, 2018
  7. ↑ Spiegel Online : Local politicians arrested on suspicion of corruption , January 8, 2014, accessed September 12, 2018
  8. ↑ Junge Welt : Atemlos in L'Aquila , June 23, 2018, accessed September 12, 2018
  9. ↑ https://eccolatoscana.myblog.it/2009/04/07/siena-montepaschi-restaurera-la-basilica-di-san-bernardino-d/
  10. ↑ La Repubblica December 17, 2010 , accessed December 17, 2010
  11. ↑ Volkmar Sigusch : Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, The first gay in world history. Swarm of Men, 2000, ISBN 978-3-86149-105-7
  12. ↑ 11th stage 2010
  13. ↑ Figueira da Foz e município italiano de L'Aquila geminados contra alterações climáticas - "Figueira da Foz and the city council of L'Aquila enter into partnership against climate change" , article in the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias of June 13, 2019, accessed on 26. August 2019