L'Aquila (Monday)

Last week, Tim, Cora, and I took a trip to L'Aquila so I could pay a visit to some colleagues at the university there (and give a talk). We drove down (it was quite a long drive, in fact) on Sunday, stopping for a delicious lunch just outside of Mantova. We arrived in time for a fairly unremarkable dinner on Sunday evening. On Monday, I went to the university, while Tim and Cora wandered around the city (seeing the "Spanish Castle", playing in a park, checking out some of the streets and the Duomo, etc.). About 7 years ago, L'Aquila experienced a very massive and very destructive earthquake. Evidence of this is still very apparent. Many of the tourist attractions (including the castle) are still closed, and about half of the buildings in the city center are ringed with metal exoskeleton scaffolding (and most often abandoned or empty). There is a lot of restoration and rebuilding going on, so there's something of a hopeful air about the town, but there's a lot of work remaining.

I joined them for lunch. Then Cora took a nap while I had some more meetings. We then wandered through the streets of L'Aquila in the early evening (including heading just out of the main part of town to see a beautiful church façade... and another park) before meeting my colleagues (and their families, including a three year old and nine year old) for a fantastic dinner.

The following paintings are all from inside the Duomo, which was, as you can tell, pretty modern inside. Tim was taken with the many arms and hands of the people in these paintings.

Some representative examples of the metal exoskeletons of the buildings...

This is the Fontana delle 99 Canaille. It dates from 1272. There are 99 faces, each one with a spout coming out of it. It is one of the most famous attractions in L'Aquila. Unfortunately, it was being prepped as a venue for some kind of theater production, hence the stage and sound system in the photos.

Cora was tired.

Very tired.

She perked up and spent several minutes tossing her toy cat around the basin.

Graffiti in L'Aquila.

One of the many, many cranes in the city center. At one point, I counted 28 in the skyline. But I might have missed some.

Scaffolding as art? I'm not sure...

This was just a street in the city center. But I guess the buildings on it are unused enough that no one is regularly going down this street right now...

Cora has become a fan of zip-lines.