L'Aquila Culture

L'Aquila's culture now has two layers: what it was, and what has happened to it since 2009.

The Perdonanza

Every 28 and 29 August the Bull of Celestine V is carried in procession and the Holy Door of Collemaggio is opened, granting the indulgence he established in 1294. It predates the Roman Jubilee by six years, it has run for more than seven centuries, and it did not stop in 2009 — it was held among the ruins. For a city that lost its centre, keeping it going was a statement.

A student city

The university is large relative to the city and was badly hit: students died in collapsed housing in 2009. Its gradual return to the centre is one of the clearest measures of recovery, and term time is when the city feels most like itself.

Rebuilding as a subject

Reconstruction is the permanent topic here — what is finished, what is stalled, who is responsible. Visitors should expect it to come up, and should not treat the damage as scenery.

Transhumance

For centuries flocks walked south from these mountains to the plains of Puglia each autumn and back each spring, along the tratturi, drove roads up to a hundred metres wide that are still traceable across the landscape. The practice shaped the economy, the food and the settlement pattern of the whole region, and UNESCO listed transhumance as intangible heritage in 2019.

What it eats

Mountain food: arrosticini, skewers of mutton grilled over a long narrow brazier and eaten by the handful; saffron from the Navelli plain, among the best in the world; lentils, pecorino, and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.