L’Aquila the beautiful Italian mountainous city, struck by an earthquake.

« The Roman Catholic Vatican City, Rome, Italy, Europe.

The Gorgeous Australian State Island of Tasmania. »

L’Aquila the beautiful Italian mountainous city, struck by an earthquake.

By Mark on April 13, 2009

This post is about the Italian city of L’Aquila which is in central Italy, it is both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L’Aquila. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the Aterno river, it is surrounded by the Apennine Mountains, with the Gran Sasso d’Italia to the north-east.
The city sits upon a hillside in the middle of a narrow valley; tall snow-capped mountains around the city, and maze of narrow streets, lined with Baroque or Renaissance buildings and churches, open onto elegant piazzas.
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 has been said that the city enjoys each year eleven cold months and one cool one.
The city is approximately 100 kilometers (63 miles) to the east-north-east of Rome, with which it is now connected by an autostrada through the mountains.
Recently this city was hit by a disaterous earthquake causing alot of tragedy to the people of L’Aquila and surrounding towns and villages. I have family in a town called Senigallia, near Ancona, which is central east of Italy and they felt some of the tremors that evening the 6th April 2009. They were fine thank goodness, but others were not. It was lovely to hear that the Italian Prime-Minister Silvio Berlusconi visited and was helping out over the easter break.

This is a Google Earth satellite image of L’Aquila in central Italy.