L'Aquila

L'Aquila (Italian for "the Eagle") became famous in 2009 for a tragic reason — a disastrous earthquake — but it is also a charming town with many historic buildings and home to the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, one of the biggest underground works of any kind in the world. The town was also the last home of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, an early gay rights activist who died here and is buried at the local cemetery, making the town something of a "gay pilgrimage" site.

L'Aquila's railway station serves regional Trenitalia lines toward Sulmona and Terni; the direct line to Rome (the former Freccia del Gran Sasso) was closed in 1987, so there is no direct train from Rome. Intercity buses run directly from Rome's Tiburtina station to L'Aquila's main bus terminal, and by road the city is reached via the motorway connecting Rome and Teramo.

The historic center, rebuilt within medieval walls on a hill in the Aterno river valley, is walkable, though much of it remained under reconstruction for years following the 2009 earthquake.

• Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio: a Romanesque-Gothic basilica with a distinctive pink-and-white striped façade, the birthplace of the world's first Jubilee tradition and the ceremonial center of the Perdonanza Celestiniana.
• L'Aquila's historic center: laid out within medieval walls, surrounded by the Apennines with the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif to the northeast.
• Gran Sasso National Laboratory: one of the largest underground physics laboratories in the world, with experimental halls shielded by about 1,400 m of rock for astroparticle and nuclear astrophysics research; it is a working scientific facility rather than a general tourist site.
• L'Aquila municipal cemetery: the burial site of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the 19th-century German pioneer of the gay rights movement who spent his final years in the city; the site draws visitors who gather annually to honor his memory.

Visit the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, explore the historic center, and use the city as a base for hikes into the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park.

Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park (adjoining, to the northeast) · Sulmona (reachable by regional train) · Rome (via intercity bus or road).