Historical Information
L'Aquila has a very unique History. L'Aquila was founded in 1242 when The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick the 2nd drew together the populations of 99 Abruzzesi Vilages to form a new city. Each village was requested to build their own church, Piazza and Fountain. This is where the idea of the 99 fountains came from. The town hall clock still chimes 99 times every night. By 1254 the construction was completed by Frederick's son, Conrad IV of Germany. The name was changed several times from Aquila degli Abruzzi in 1861 fianlly to L'Aquila in 1939.
After the death of Conrad, the city was destroyed by his brother Manfred in 1259, but rebuilt by Charles I of Anjou, its successor as king of Sicily. The walls were completed in 1316. It quickly became the 2nd city of Naples. L'Aquila had many power changes but The last, and the one true "lord" of L'Aquila, was Ludovico Franchi, who
challenged the power of the pop. In the end, however, the Aquilans had him removed from office and imprisoned by the king of Naples.
The City had no legal existence until King Charles II of Naples appointed a "Camerlengo" meaning responsible for city tributes.
The Town is overlooked by the Gran Sasso Mountain range and is the main access point to the national park of the name same.
In 1703, Aquila has a major Earthquake that damaged most of the city but was rebuilt.
In 2009 they were struck by another Earthquake claiming the lives of 309 citizens. The City of L'Aquila was almost demolished forever. Since then the City has been rebuilding and many natural monuments and landmarks have been rebuilt.
In 2012, the City is going strong and is continuing restoring what was lost in the previous Earthquake.