L'Aquila
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L'Aquila sits upon a hillside in the middle of a narrow valley; tall snow-capped mountains of the Gran Sasso massif flank the town. A maze of narrow streets, lined with Baroque and Renaissance buildings and churches, open onto elegant piazzas. Home to the University of L'Aquila, it is a lively college town and, as such, has many cultural institutions: a repertory theatre, a symphony orchestra, a fine-arts academy, a state conservatory, a film institute. There are several ski resorts in the surrounding province (Campo Imperatore, Ovindoli, Pescasseroli, Roccaraso, Scanno).
Close to the highest of the Apennine summits, L'Aquila is positioned at an elevation of 721 m in the Valley of the Aterno-Pescara, situated between four mountain peaks above 2000 m.
The mountains block the city off from warm humid air currents from the Mediterranean, and give rise to a climate that is cool in comparison to most of central Italy, and dry. It's common to say between locals that the city enjoys each year 11 cold months and one cool one ("Undici misi de friddu e unu de friscu").
L'Aquila is approximately 100 km east-northeast of Rome, with which it is connected by an autostrada through the mountains.
Map - L'Aquila
Map
Country - Italy
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Flag of Italy |
Italy was the native place of many civilizations such as the Italic peoples and the Etruscans, while due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the country has also historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures, who immigrated to the peninsula throughout history. The Latins, native of central Italy, formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula, eventually expanding and conquering a large part of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural, political and religious centre, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's law, technology, economy, art, and literature developed.
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ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
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EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
ISO | Language |
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CA | Catalan language |
CO | Corsican language |
FR | French language |
DE | German language |
IT | Italian language |
SC | Sardinian language |
SL | Slovene language |