MuNDA: home again in the Forte Spagnolo

The MuNDA, the national museum of Abruzzo, went back into the Forte Spagnolo on December 15, 2025, and in 2026 it opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9 am to 7 pm, at €10 full and €2 reduced.

December 15, 2025: the collection went home

The museum returned to the Forte Spagnolo on December 15, 2025, ending a displacement that began with the 2009 earthquake. From 2015 it had been housed at the former abattoir in Borgo Rivera, a good temporary building that nobody mistook for the real one.

The castle is a 16th century Spanish fort at Viale Benedetto Croce, on the edge of the old town. Moving a museum back into a fortress is slower than moving it out, which is why this took sixteen years.

€10, and one source behind that price

Entry is €10 full and €2 reduced in 2026, with the museum open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm and the ticket desk closing at 6:00 pm (09:00 to 19:00 and 18:00 on Italian signs). Monday is the closing day.

One official page carries those figures and the cross-check failed: the museum's own domain redirects and serves no timetable or price in readable text. Treat the price as correct but confirm on the day if it matters to your budget.

Fourteen rooms hold work from the 9th to the 16th century. The phone is +39 0862¹ 085900¹.

2026 is L'Aquila's year as capital of culture

L'Aquila is Italian Capital of Culture for 2026, proclaimed on March 14, 2024 at the Ministry of Culture in Rome with the dossier L'Aquila. Citta' Multiverso and a state contribution of one million euros.

That is the practical reason the museum's return was timed for the end of 2025. It also means more of the city is open this year than in any year since the earthquake, and more of it is scaffolded at the same time.

San Bernardino: 1472, and a facade that took 22 years

The Basilica of San Bernardino was built at the wish of Saint John of Capestrano to hold the remains of Bernardino of Siena, translated in 1472², and its Renaissance facade is by Cola dell'Amatrice, built between 1525² and 1547².

Inside, the layout is baroque: three naves with six chapels a side and an octagonal domed center. The carved, gilded and painted wooden ceiling was made between 1724² and 1726² by Ferdinando Mosca of Pescocostanzo.

Three works are worth finding: the mausoleum of Saint Bernardino by Silvestro dall'Aquila, 1505², the funeral monument of Maria Pereyra Camponeschi, 1488² to 1490², and a glazed terracotta altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia from the early 16th century.

No hours published for the basilica

Nobody publishes opening hours for San Bernardino, and the regional source we read carries nothing on the state of post-earthquake work there in 2026 either. The two gaps travel together: a church still in and out of repair does not commit to a timetable.

Plan the museum first, since it has fixed hours, and treat the basilica as an add-on you check on the door. The other rebuilt landmark in town is Collemaggio, and the wider picture is at L'Aquila.

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