L'Aquila Hotels

Things to Do

L'Aquila Hotels - Things to Do & Attractions

L'Aquila Hotels - Things to Do & Attractions

Things to Do in L’Aquila: L’Aquila Hotels travel guide on the best things to do in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. Have a look below for more details on L’Aquila Attractions, restaurants, nightlife, bars, clubs, events and shopping.

Don’t forget to check out our other sections for details on L’Aquila Hotels, Getting to and from L’Aquila and around once there, plus candid traveler photos and reviews.

Use the search form to review and book hotels in L’Aquila – at up to 70% off.

Top things to do and Attractions in L’Aquila:

This beautiful city has a captivating mountain setting and many stunning monuments, but it’s rarely on the list of foreigners’ must-sees. Its establishment as a city is recent, by Italian standards, for it was only in the 13th century that Frederick II of Hohenstaufen called on the inhabitants of 99 nearby castles to consolidate and be his strategic allies in this crossroads between the Middle East and Northern Europe. As you walk through the streets of L’Aquila, you’ll see all sorts of reminders of this event, most illustrious of them the stunning fountain of 99 spouts in Piazza di Porta Rivera.

L’Aquila is too large and its major monuments are too widespread to encompass them all in one walk. See as much of the old town as you can, popping in whenever you spot an open doorway: you may easily discover a hidden Renaissance courtyard. Here are the major attractions you won’t want to miss:

Church of San Bernardino
V. San Bernardino I – 67100 L’Aquila
Religious buildings

This magnificent church is striking for its lavish façade completed in 1527 by Cola dell’Amatrice. Inside, beneath a lovely wooden Baroque ceiling is the elegant tomb of Maria Pereira and the mausoleum of San Bernardino adorned with figures by ..

Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo
V. Castello I – 67100 L’Aquila
Museums and art

On display here visitors can see a fossil of a mammoth, Roman relics (including the calendar of Amiternum ), a section devoted to religious art (the museum’s highlight), a gallery of Abruzzo School pictures (15C-18C) and a contemporary art section..

Church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio

Piazza Collemaggio I – 67100 L’Aquila
Religious buildings

This is the most celebrated basilica in the Abruzzi (currently closed following the 2009 earthquake), begun in 1287 on the orders of Pietro da Morone, who became Pope Celestine V in 1294. The huge façade with rectilinear embellishments is disting..

Gran Sasso
I – 67100 L’Aquila
Nature and gardens

This is the highest massif in the Abruzzi and its main peak is Corno Grande (2 912m high). On the northern side, ridges with many gullies slope away gently, while on the southern face, Gran Sasso drops abruptly to great glacial plateaus edged by deep..

Campo Imperatore
A 24 I – 64041 Castelli
Nature and gardens

On the 12th September 1943, in this grandiose mountain habitat in which horses and sheep stroll about in herds that Mussolini , who had been kept prisoner since the 25th July , finally escaped his captors, helped by the German air force. He went on ..

Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga
I – Castelli
Nature and gardens

This national park, founded in 1992, encompasses the highest massif of the Abruzzi, which stretches along two mountain chains: the Monti della Laga to the north, formed of marl and sandstone; and the Gran Sasso to the south, which peaks with the Cor..

Valle del Vomano
I – Montorio al Vomano
Nature and gardens

The verdant Vomano Valley skirts the Gran Sasso massif before opening out onto the Adriatic Sea.

Castello
V. Castello I – 67100 L’Aquila
Architecture, castles and historic districts

Built by Pirro Luigi Escribà (who also designed Castel Sant’Elmo in Naples), this is a square castle reinforced with powerful bastions, which today houses the national museum of the Abruzzo .

Fontana delle 99 cannelle
V. San Vito I – 67100 L’Aquila
Architecture, castles and historic districts

Made of pink and white stone in a trapezoidal form, this imposing fountain, which was begun in 1272 commemorates the legend of the 99 castles which made up L’Aquila and is adorned with 99 gargoyles, each different from the other.

Church of Santa Maria Assunta
I – 67020 Bominaco
Religious buildings

This 11C-12C church with its beautifully ornamented apses is one of the most significant examples of Romanesque architecture in Abruzzi. The elegantly simple interior has a graceful Romanesque colonnade. Note the striking 12C ambo (pulpit), near th..

Church of San Pellegrino
I – 67020 Bominaco
Religious buildings

This oratory, located 500m above the hamlet of Bominaco, is decorated with 13C frescoes, whose detailed, yet rather childlike portrayal is somewhat reminiscent of today’s naive art. The church also houses two delightful “Calendario bominacense”, depi..

Saint Peter’s Church (San Pietro)
I – 67051 Alba Fucens
Religious buildings

This church erected in the 12C and built over what was left of an Apollo temple, dominates the ruins of this ancient Roman town of Alba Fucens. It harbours two illustrious works, namely an ambo and a magnificent iconostasis from the 13C

Corno Grande
A 24 I – 64041 Castelli
Nature and gardens

Reaching 2 912 m at its highest point, this is the highest Abruzzi mountain range whose two slopes are markedly different one is largely desolate and the other is bristling with woods and meadows.

Museo delle Ceramiche (Ceramic museum)
V. Convento I – 64041 Castelli
Museums and art

Set up in an old 17C Franciscan convent a little way from small town, this museum charts the history of Castelli art with its collection of 15-19C paintings by the town’s most famous artists.

S. Donato (Église Saint-Donato)
V. San Donato I – 64041 Castelli
Religious buildings

The 17C ceiling of this church is an admirable example of the ceramics for which Castelli is famous.

Abruzzo
I – 67100 L’Aquila
Nature and gardens

Severely affected by the April 2009 earthquake, this harsh, wild region of nearly 10 800km2 is noted both for its immensity and for the diversity of its scenery. Karst formations, forests, desolate plateaus and fertile pastures all feature in its fou..

Want to learn more about L’Aquila?

Payment accepted for all card types: Mastercard, American Express, Visa, Maestro and more.