Deep-dive

Studying in L'Aquila: UnivAQ, GSSI and the Gran Sasso laboratories

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.

Sections: Schools · Universities · Admissions · Scholarships · Language courses · Degrees & recognition

The universities

The University of L'Aquila (UnivAQ), state-run, born in the 1950s as a free university and made public in 1982, has seven departments: medicine, life sciences and biotechnology at the Coppito campus next to the hospital; engineering, information sciences and mathematics at Coppito and at the Roio campus (civil, building-architecture, industrial engineering); human sciences, humanities and economics in the historic centre, in buildings reopened after reconstruction (former San Salvatore hospital, Palazzo Camponeschi). It is a mid-sized university with one of the highest student-to-resident ratios in Italy.

The Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), created in 2012 as an INFN advanced studies centre and made a higher university school in 2016, offers doctorates in physics, mathematics, computer science and social sciences (urban and regional studies) with scholarships for all admitted students and teaching in English; it is based in the historic centre. INFN's Gran Sasso National Laboratories, the world's largest underground laboratory for particle physics, are at Assergi and collaborate with both. The city also has the Casella Conservatory and the Academy of Fine Arts.

Enrolled university students (city's universities)

City figurePeriod: academic year 2025/26Validsample unknown

Source: MUR – Ufficio di Statistica, Portale dei dati dell'istruzione superiore: dataset «Iscritti», risorsa «Iscritti per ateneo» (02_iscrittixateneo.csv), con anagrafica atenei (metadati, 01_atenei.csv) · Iscritti ai corsi di laurea, laurea magistrale e a ciclo unico dell'ateneo nel suo complesso: comprende anche gli studenti delle sedi decentrate fuori dal comune. Dataset MUR aggiornato l'8 settembre 2026.

17,007students

Public university tuition (year)

City figurePeriod: academic year 2026/27Validsample unknown

Source: Università degli Studi dell'Aquila – Guida tasse e contributi universitari a.a. 2026/2027 · Minimo: COA 0 € (ISEE-U < 24.000 €) + tassa regionale DSU 140 € + bollo 16 € (dovuto anche dagli esonerati). Massimo: COA 1.600 € (ISEE-U ≥ 60.000 € o senza ISEE-U) + 156 €; dal 2° anno fuori corso il massimo è 1.990 €.

€156 – €1,756/ person·year

Student support

ADSU L'Aquila provides grants, beds and canteens through an annual call by ISEE and merit, also open to international students; residences are in the centre, at Coppito and in C.A.S.E. project homes. UnivAQ fees follow the national ISEE bands, with wide exemptions: the university has historically had some of the lowest fees among state universities.

Where students live

Those attending Coppito look for rooms in Coppito, Pettino and the nearby C.A.S.E. districts; humanities, economics or GSSI students live in the historic centre, where after reconstruction the supply of new flats is wide and prices low. Many students commute from Rome, eastern Lazio and Abruzzo on TUA coaches.

Programmes in English

UnivAQ offers master's degrees in English in engineering (mathematics, computer science, information engineering, environment) and sciences, plus Erasmus Mundus master's programmes coordinated by the university; GSSI is entirely in English. The updated list is on the Universitaly portal.