Churches of L'Aquila

This sampler barely scratches the surface of the churches in L'Aquila: I didn't spend much time in town, and didn't see any of the surrounding territory of the comune; and those churches I did see in some detail, I've yet to put up proper webpages: a page of pretty pictures, despite what one sees out there, doesn't make a website, and this orientation page is therefore still for the most part a placeholder.

[ 24 churches, 73 photos ] If you read Italian, though, there's one good resource onsite: Aquila, a handsome book on the city published in 1929 by art historian Luigi Serra. It covers the whole city rather than just its churches; but these account for about half the text and a little over half the 141 photos.

Sadly, on April 6, 2009, even my own simple photos and Prof. Serra's became something of a historical document: at 3:31 A.M. on that day, L'Aquila was hit by a massive earthquake, centered just 5 km from downtown, that did serious damage to the churches you see here. Among the collapses, the choir of the Duomo (barely seen in the photo above), the attractive central lantern of S. Maria del Suffragio designed by Giuseppe Valadier (photo), the belfry of S. Bernardino (the squarish tower behind the dome to the right), the little baroque cupola of S. Agostino, part of S. Francesco da Paola (photo). The basilica of Collemaggio was somewhat damaged too, but apparently its beautiful façade and the historic tomb of Pope Celestine are intact. Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, was quoted at the time as saying that damage was so severe "that at the moment, none of them can be used" by the faithful. Many pre-earthquake photographs of the towns damaged or destroyed may be found in this volunteer photoarchive; and despite the request on that site not to include photos after the earthquake, there are some showing the reconstruction efforts.