L'Aquila

L'Aquila has rents and house prices among the lowest of Italy's regional capitals, cheap urban transport and moderately priced restaurants. Heating (long winter) and the car, almost indispensable for the hamlets, weigh more. The rebuilt historic centre is the most sought-after zone; the hamlets and the C.A.S.E. districts the cheapest.

The rebuilt historic centre offers new flats in old buildings and has become the most sought-after place again; Pettino and viale Corrado IV are the services periphery; Coppito serves the hospital and university; the hamlets and C.A.S.E. districts cost less but require a car. Public housing through ATER L'Aquila and the Comune; student housing through ADSU.

Registry and services are in the rebuilt town hall and in the hamlet offices, as well as online with SPID/CIE. ASM manages door-to-door waste collection. Water, managed by Gran Sasso Acqua, is drinkable and of excellent quality. Shopping happens at the piazza Duomo market and the supermarkets of Pettino and the outskirts; the main public library is the Tommasi provincial library.

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

L'Aquila has neither high-speed rail nor an airport: the main link is the TUA coach to Roma Tiburtina (about an hour and a half to two hours) on the A24 motorway. The AMA urban network links centre, outskirts, hospital, university and hamlets; the Terni–Sulmona railway is slow. The historic centre has a ZTL and park-and-ride car parks with escalators.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

The city belongs to ASL 1 Avezzano-Sulmona-L'Aquila; for choosing a GP and other paperwork the reference is the Area L'Aquila district at via Capo Croce 3. The regional San Salvatore hospital is at via Lorenzo Natali 1, in the Coppito area. For non-urgent care when your GP is unavailable, the 116117 number operates around the clock.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

L'Aquila's economy is sustained by regional public administration, university and research, health, the reconstruction supply chain and an industrial cluster of pharmaceuticals, electronics and space in the plain (Pile, Bazzano, Sassa). The labour market is small and stable, with employment rates around the central Italian average.

A VAT number (partita IVA) from the Agenzia delle Entrate for freelancers; for businesses the Comunicazione Unica to the Registro delle Imprese, which also notifies the Agenzia, INPS, INAIL and SUAP. Main forms: sole proprietorship, SNC/SAS, SRL and SRLS, SPA. Compulsory PEC, annual chamber fee, e-invoicing. Invitalia incentives; non-EU citizens need a self-employment permit or the investor visa.

The University of L'Aquila has campuses at Coppito (medicine, sciences, engineering), Roio (engineering) and in the centre (humanities, social sciences, economics). The Gran Sasso Science Institute is an international doctoral school in physics, mathematics, computer science and social sciences. Student support is run by ADSU L'Aquila. Students are a very high share of the population.

L'Aquila is the capital of Abruzzo, seat of the Region and the Prefecture, and a municipality with dozens of hamlets but no elected municipi. The patron saint is San Massimo d'Aveia, feast on 10 June. The Perdonanza Celestiniana, at the end of August, has been UNESCO intangible heritage since 2019. The Aquila dialect belongs to the central Italian area. The city is Italian Capital of Culture 2026.

At 700 m between the Gran Sasso and the Velino-Sirente, L'Aquila has long cold winters with snow, cool summers and clean air. It lies in one of Italy's highest seismic-hazard zones: the earthquake of 6 April 2009 killed 309 people; according to figures released in April 2026 private reconstruction stands at 96% and public reconstruction at around 60%.

The rebuilt historic centre is visited in a day: Basilica of Collemaggio, Fountain of the 99 Spouts, Spanish Fort with the MuNDA, Santa Maria del Suffragio, MAXXI L'Aquila. The Gran Sasso with Campo Imperatore is half an hour away. The Perdonanza at the end of August and the Italian Capital of Culture 2026 programme are the peak moments.

The food is that of inland Abruzzo: arrosticini skewers, saffron from the Navelli plateau, Santo Stefano lentils, pecorino, Aquila torrone, ferratelle. The piazza Duomo market is daily. The Gran Sasso offers skiing, hiking and climbing half an hour away; the Castle Park and Parco del Sole are the urban greens. Evenings are spent in the bars of the corso and piazza Regina Margherita.