# L'Aquila is still being rebuilt > At August 31, 2026 the reconstruction office had issued 2,594 opinions for 6,949 property units in L'Aquila's historic center. These are case files. URL: https://myitalia.it/stories/laquila-is-still-being-rebuilt Last updated: 2026-09-02 At August 31, 2026 the USRA data portal recorded 2,594 opinions issued for L'Aquila's historic center against 6,949 property units: administrative case files, not completed building sites. ## The instrumental record: 03:32, April 6, 2009 The earthquake occurred at 03:32:40 local time on April 6, 2009, 01:32:40 UTC, with moment magnitude Mw 6.1 and local magnitude ML 5.9. The hypocenter was 8 km deep and the epicenter 2 km southwest of the city, on the Paganica fault. Those are the parameters in the INGV seismic catalogue, event 1895389. This page carries the instrumental values only. Casualty and damage figures belong to the dedicated institutional sources that hold them, and are not reproduced from secondary reporting. ## 2,594 opinions against 6,949 property units For the historic center, the USRA data portal reported 2,594 opinions issued at August 31, 2026, covering an inventory of 6,949 property units. The money attached: 3.14 billion euro assessed, of which 1.87 billion, or 59.5%, immediately fundable. Outside the center, in the outlying districts, 3,445 opinions cover 14,002 property units, with 2.7 billion assessed and 1.46 billion, 54.3%, fundable. Across the whole city that is 6,039 opinions for 20,951 property units, 5.84 billion assessed and 3.33 billion immediately fundable. ## What an opinion is, and what it is not An opinion is an administrative act on a case file, and it is not the same thing as a finished building. The distinction has to be held or every number on this page misleads. A parere issued means the office has assessed a project and determined what it will fund. Between that and scaffolding coming down there is a tender, a contractor, a site, and time. No official figure for the share of completed building sites in the historic center could be found. That number is not published, and the administrative ones are not a substitute for it. ## 29,284 case files out of 29,828, at April 6, 2025 At April 6, 2025 the reconstruction office recorded 29,284 private reconstruction applications with assessment concluded, out of 29,828, which is 98% of case files, leaving 544 outstanding. Approved resources stood at around 6.66 billion euro against more than 7.3 billion requested, an assessment progress of 88% in financial terms. Read that 98% carefully, because it is the figure most likely to be quoted out of context. It measures the office's throughput on paperwork, not the state of the buildings, and USRA itself makes the distinction. Average assessed cost per square meter runs at 1,456 euro for ordinary buildings and 2,814 euro for those under direct heritage protection, which is a plain measure of how much slower a listed building is to put back. ## The same city holds the 2026 title L'Aquila is Italian Capital of Culture for 2026, proclaimed on March 14, 2024 at the Ministry of Culture with the dossier L'Aquila. Città Multiverso and a state contribution of 1 million euro. It was chosen from 10 finalists, among them Alba, Gaeta, Latina, Rimini and Treviso, on a dossier built around social cohesion, wellbeing, innovation and environmental sustainability. Both things are simultaneously true: a reconstruction with 2,594 opinions issued against 6,949 property units in the center, and a year-long national cultural program in the same streets. The city has not asked to be visited as a disaster site and it does not present itself as one. ## When to go, if you are going 25.1% of American nights in Italy fall in the low season, against 39.7% between June and August, and the American peak month is July rather than August. L'Aquila sits at altitude in the Apennines, which makes the low-season share more relevant here than on the coast. A title year concentrates programming across the whole calendar rather than into the summer. For the city page, see [L'Aquila](/towns/l-aquila); for how the title moves between cities, see [a different Capital of Culture every year](/stories/a-different-capital-of-culture-every-year). ## FAQ ### Is L'Aquila still being rebuilt after the 2009 earthquake? Yes. At August 31, 2026 the USRA data portal recorded 2,594 opinions issued for the historic center, against 6,949 property units, with 3.14 billion euro assessed of which 1.87 billion, or 59.5%, immediately fundable. ### How strong was the L'Aquila earthquake of 2009? Moment magnitude Mw 6.1, local magnitude ML 5.9, at 03:32 local time on April 6, 2009. The hypocenter was 8 km deep and the epicenter 2 km southwest of the city, on the Paganica fault, on the INGV seismic catalogue. ### What percentage of L'Aquila has been rebuilt? No official figure exists for completed building sites. What is published is administrative: 29,284 of 29,828 private reconstruction applications had completed assessment at April 6, 2025, which is 98% of case files, not 98% of finished works. ### Can you visit L'Aquila now? Yes, and in 2026 the city holds the Italian Capital of Culture title, proclaimed on March 14, 2024 with a state contribution of 1 million euro. Reconstruction sites are still part of the townscape, and both facts are true at once. ### How much has the reconstruction of L'Aquila cost? For private reconstruction, 6.66 billion euro had been approved at April 6, 2025 against more than 7.3 billion requested. Assessed amounts across the city and its outlying districts reach 5.84 billion, of which 3.33 billion is immediately fundable. ## Sources | Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until | |---|---|---|---| | Il terremoto dell'Aquila del 6 aprile 2009 e' avvenuto alle 03:32 ora locale (01:32:40 UTC) con magnitudo momento Mw 6.1 (ML 5.9), ipocentro a 8 km di profondita' ed epicentro 2 km a sud-ovest della citta'. | [INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia](https://terremoti.ingv.it/event/1895389) | medium | 2099-12-31 | | Il portale dati USRA riporta, con aggiornamento al 31 agosto 2026, 2.594 pareri emessi per il centro storico dell'Aquila su 6.949 unita' immobiliari, per 3,14 miliardi di euro istruiti di cui 1,87 miliardi (59,5%) immediatamente finanziabili. | [USRA - Ufficio Speciale per la Ricostruzione dell'Aquila](http://www.usra.it/datipratiche/index.php?lang=it§ion=ricostruzione-privata) | medium | 2027-03-31 | | Secondo l'Ufficio Speciale per la Ricostruzione dell'Aquila, al 6 aprile 2025 la ricostruzione privata post-sisma 2009 aveva concluso l'istruttoria di 29.284 pratiche su 29.828 (98%), per circa 6,66 miliardi di euro approvati su oltre 7,3 miliardi richiesti. | [USRA - Ufficio Speciale per la Ricostruzione dell'Aquila](https://usra.it/rapporto-stato-della-ricostruzione-al-6-aprile-2025/) | medium | 2027-04-30 | | L'Aquila e' Capitale italiana della cultura 2026: la proclamazione e' avvenuta il 14 marzo 2024 al Ministero della Cultura, con il dossier "L'Aquila. Citta' Multiverso" e un contributo statale di 1 milione di euro. | [Ministero della Cultura - Capitali della cultura](https://capitalidellacultura.cultura.gov.it/laquila-capitale-italiana-della-cultura-2026/); [Ministero della Cultura](https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/28576) | high | 2099-12-31 | | L'americano non e' un turista estivo: il 39,7% delle sue notti cade tra giugno e agosto e il 25,1% in bassa stagione; il picco e' luglio, non agosto. | [Banca d'Italia, Indagine sul turismo internazionale](https://www.bancaditalia.it/statistiche/tematiche/rapporti-estero/turismo-internazionale/) | medium | 2027-07-31 | ## Image https://media.myitalia.it/media/city.l-aquila.1600.jpg Author: LIAP. License: CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castello_500.JPG ## Other languages - it: https://myitalia.it/it/storie/laquila-is-still-being-rebuilt.md - es: https://myitalia.it/es/historias/laquila-is-still-being-rebuilt.md - fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/recits/laquila-is-still-being-rebuilt.md - de: https://myitalia.it/de/geschichten/laquila-is-still-being-rebuilt.md