# L'Aquila: 99 spouts and a city site under repair

> The Fontana delle 99 cannelle has 93 masks and 6 single spouts. The MuNDA is back in the Forte Spagnolo at €10, and the old town is still a building site.

URL: https://myitalia.it/towns/l-aquila/things-to-do
Last updated: 2026-09-03

L'Aquila rewards a slow half day: 99 spouts on one wall in the Rivera quarter, the national museum back in the Forte Spagnolo since December 2025 at €10, and a Renaissance facade a few streets from the scaffolding.

## The fountain: 93 masks and 6 spouts

The Fontana delle 99 cannelle in the Rivera quarter is made of 93 carved stone masks plus 6 single spouts, and tradition puts its construction in 1272, in memory of the 99 castles said to have founded the city.

The stone is white and pink from the quarry at Genzano di Sassa, the same used for the facade of Collemaggio, laid across five basins on staggered levels in a trapezoidal plan with three faces. It served as a public washhouse into the early twentieth century.

The date is not certain. The regional source itself notes that some scholars place the fountain as it now stands entirely in the fifteenth century, so 1272 is tradition rather than record.

## The MuNDA is back in the castle

The National Museum of Abruzzo returned to the Forte Spagnolo on December 15, 2025, after years in the converted slaughterhouse at Borgo Rivera where it moved in 2015. In 2026 it opens Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, closed Monday, ticket desk until 6:00 pm.

Entry is €10 full and €2 reduced, across 14 exhibition rooms holding works from the ninth to the sixteenth century. The sixteenth century fortress is worth the ticket on its own.

Those hours and prices come from a single ministry page. The museum's own site redirects and does not serve the timetable in readable text, so cross-checking was not possible: confirm before you go.

## San Bernardino, and a facade of 1525

The Basilica of San Bernardino was built at the wish of Giovanni da Capestrano to hold the remains of Bernardino of Siena, translated here in 1472. The Renaissance facade is the work of Cola dell'Amatrice, made between 1525 and 1547.

Inside, the plan is Baroque: three naves with six chapels a side and an octagonal central body under a dome. The carved, gilded and painted wooden ceiling was made between 1724 and 1726 by Ferdinando Mosca of Pescocostanzo.

Three works to find: the mausoleum of San Bernardino by Silvestro dell'Aquila of 1505, the funeral monument of Maria Pereyra Camponeschi of 1488 to 1490, and an early sixteenth century glazed terracotta altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia. Opening hours and the state of post earthquake works are not published on the source we read.

## 70,803 people at 722 meters

L'Aquila had 70,803 residents on January 1, 2026 on the ISTAT estimate, 35,143 men and 35,660 women. The town hall stands at 722 meters, making this the third highest provincial capital in Italy after Enna at 928 meters and Potenza at 827.

The comune runs from 571 to 2,622 meters, a range of 2,051 meters. Few Italian towns hold a supermarket and a glacier cirque inside the same administrative boundary.

## What the scaffolding actually means

The reconstruction data portal recorded 2,594 approvals for the historic center at August 31, 2026, covering 6,949 property units, with €3.14 billion assessed and €1.87 billion, 59.5%, immediately fundable.

Read those as administrative figures. They count applications and money, not finished buildings, and the share of completed sites in the old town is not published as an official number anywhere we could find.

The city is legible anyway, and in places more legible than before: cleaned stone, propped facades, streets that reopen one at a time. See [L'Aquila](/towns/l-aquila), [the events year](/towns/l-aquila/events) and [the rebuilding story](/stories/laquila-is-still-being-rebuilt).

## FAQ

### How many spouts does the Fontana delle 99 cannelle have?

99 in total: 93 stone masks plus 6 single spouts, in the Rivera quarter. Tradition says it was raised in 1272 in memory of the 99 castles that founded the city, though some scholars date the fountain as it stands to the fifteenth century.

### Is the MuNDA museum open again?

Yes, in its historic home. The National Museum of Abruzzo returned to the Forte Spagnolo on December 15, 2025 after years in a converted slaughterhouse. In 2026 it opens Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, closed Monday, at €10 full and €2 reduced, with 14 rooms.

### How high is L'Aquila?

722 meters at the town hall, which makes it the third highest provincial capital in Italy after Enna at 928 meters and Potenza at 827. The comune itself spans from 571 to 2,622 meters, an altitude range of 2,051 meters.

### Is the old town still a building site?

Partly. The reconstruction data portal recorded 2,594 approvals for the historic center at August 31, 2026, covering 6,949 property units, €3.14 billion assessed, of which €1.87 billion, 59.5%, immediately fundable. Those are administrative numbers, not finished sites.

### What is worth seeing besides Collemaggio?

The Basilica of San Bernardino, built to hold the remains of Bernardino of Siena, moved here in 1472. Its Renaissance facade is by Cola dell'Amatrice, made between 1525 and 1547, and the carved gilded wooden ceiling dates from 1724 to 1726.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Fontana delle 99 cannelle dell'Aquila, nel quartiere della Rivera, e' composta da 93 mascheroni in pietra piu' 6 cannelle singole e sarebbe stata eretta nel 1272, secondo la tradizione a memoria dei 99 castelli che fondarono la citta'. | [Regione Abruzzo - Dipartimento Turismo](https://www.abruzzoturismo.it/it/destinazioni/fontana-delle-99-cannelle-laquila) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| Il MuNDA - Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo e' tornato nella sua sede storica del Forte Spagnolo (castello cinquecentesco) il 15 dicembre 2025, dopo lo sfollamento seguito al sisma del 2009; nel 2026 apre da martedi' a domenica 9:00-19:00 (chiuso il lunedi'), biglietto intero 10 euro e ridotto 2 euro. | [Ministero della Cultura](https://cultura.gov.it/luogo/forte-spagnolo); [doc 2](https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/28576) | medium | 2027-03-31 |
| La Basilica di San Bernardino dell'Aquila fu costruita per volere di San Giovanni da Capestrano per accogliere le spoglie di Bernardino da Siena, traslate nel 1472; la facciata rinascimentale e' opera di Cola dell'Amatrice, realizzata tra il 1525 e il 1547. | [Regione Abruzzo - Dipartimento Turismo](https://www.abruzzoturismo.it/it/destinazioni/basilica-di-san-bernardino-laquila) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| Con la casa comunale a 722 metri sul livello del mare, L'Aquila e' il terzo capoluogo di provincia piu' alto d'Italia dopo Enna (928 m) e Potenza (827 m); il territorio comunale va da 571 a 2.622 metri di quota. | [ISTAT](https://www.istat.it/notizia/principali-statistiche-geografiche-sui-comuni/); [doc 2](https://www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Altimetria_Comuni-al-31_12_2021.xlsx) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| Il comune dell'Aquila ha 70.803 residenti al 1 gennaio 2026 (stima ISTAT), di cui 35.143 maschi e 35.660 femmine. | [ISTAT - Demografia in cifre](https://demo.istat.it/app/?i=POS&l=it); [ISTAT](https://demo.istat.it/data/posas/POSAS_2026_it_Comuni.zip) | high | 2027-06-30 |
| 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&section=ricostruzione-privata) | medium | 2027-03-31 |

## 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/paesi/l-aquila/cosa-fare.md
- es: https://myitalia.it/es/pueblos/l-aquila/que-hacer.md
- fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/villages/l-aquila/que-faire.md
- de: https://myitalia.it/de/orte/l-aquila/aktivitaeten.md