Every design for L'aquila

L'Aquila was built by federation: according to local tradition, ninety-nine castles and villages of the surrounding valley joined forces to found a single city, each building its own quarter. It rose on a hill above the Aterno river and, at well over seven hundred metres, ranks among Italy's highest provincial capitals.

That height and those mountains give the city its mood. The snow-capped Gran Sasso massif flanks it to the north-east, and much of the municipality is protected land of almond trees and small lakes. Inside the medieval walls, a maze of narrow streets opens onto squares lined with Renaissance and Baroque churches and palaces, many rebuilt after the earthquakes the city has survived. In winter the ski slopes of Campo Imperatore are close at hand.

Every year the city holds the Perdonanza Celestiniana, a jubilee founded by Pope Celestine V and now on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. The Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio, the Forte spagnolo and the Basilica di San Bernardino give the map its anchors: wear them, and you wear a mountain city that keeps rebuilding itself.