In attendance at the ceremony were President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, Mayor Pierluigi Biondi, and President of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio.

L’Aquila, January 17, 2026 – From Reconstruction to the National Spotlight: L’Aquila is the 2026 Italian Capital of Culture. The city has kicked off a year featuring over 300 cultural initiatives, including exhibitions, performances, and local projects. The official ceremony was held today at the Auditorium of the School for Inspectors and Superintendents of the Guardia di Finanza, in the presence of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, Mayor Pierluigi Biondi, and President of the Abruzzo Region Marco Marsilio. During the event, Mayor Biondi presented President Mattarella with an anastatic reproduction of the Bull of Pardon issued by Pope Celestine V, a symbol of the city’s history and cultural identity.

In the afternoon, the historic center was transformed into an open-air narrative tour. At the Fontana Luminosa, the drone show “Under a Single Sky” kicked off the public events, followed by a parade featuring the giant light figure Dundu along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II to Piazza Duomo, where the show “The Celestial City,” the lighting of the “Il Faro 99” light installation, and the mayor’s remarks brought the opening day to a close. The event was complemented by traveling artistic performances throughout the streets of the historic center.

On January 17, a program kicks off that will run throughout 2026: 300 days of original productions, major exhibitions, music, theater, dance, film, research, participatory projects, and active citizenship. L’Aquila, Italian Capital of Culture 2026, is based on a clear vision: not just a single city, but a regional system that involves towns, inland areas, cultural and research institutions, universities, associations, and creative businesses.

The initiative brings together major national and international productions, the promotion of events that define the region’s identity—the Perdonanza Celestiniana, Cantieri dell’Immaginario, Jazz Italiano per le Terre del Sisma, and the Festival delle Città del Medioevo—with new exhibition and performance projects in collaboration with MAXXI L’Aquila and the region’s leading cultural institutions. It also includes widespread cultural initiatives, urban regeneration projects, pilot programs in neighborhoods and towns, and advanced artistic and musical training programs.

A key event of the year will be the launch of the first Urban Cultural Observatory in Italy, designed to systematically measure the impact of cultural policies on well-being, social cohesion, attractiveness, and development. This initiative positions L’Aquila not only as a venue for events but also as a national laboratory.

The year 2026 will also mark the return of iconic venues to the city: from the Teatro Comunale to the reopening of the Teatro San Filippo, while the Munda (National Museum of Abruzzo) regained possession of the Spanish Fort on December 15. L’Aquila begins 2026 as a capital that experiments, connects, and creates. A city born of its territory and one that offers a vision back to that territory.

“The harmonious spirit that will drive the more than 300 events of this special season in L’Aquila—on the grand stage of national culture—is an opportunity to foster a renewed social, and even moral, consciousness throughout the province, across the entire region of Abruzzo, and, from there, in ever-widening concentric circles,” stated Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli. “On various occasions—most recently as president of MAXXI-Rome and MAXXI-L’Aquila—I have expressed my personal attachment to these places close to my heart, and I have since sought to reaffirm the Ministry of Culture’s steadfast commitment to addressing the material and immaterial needs of the communities rooted in this region. To all of you, I extend my hope that L’Aquila will reaffirm its calling to be a preeminent center of cultural regeneration, expressing the profound meaning of our existence through our public mission and our private harmony.”

“We are proud that L’Aquila has been chosen as the 2026 Italian Capital of Culture,” said Pierluigi Biondi, Mayor of L’Aquila, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony. “This recognition rewards the vision and determination with which the city has invested in its future. For L’Aquila, culture has always been a catalyst for development, a tool for social cohesion, and a strategic lever for the region’s economic and social growth. Since 2017, we have allocated 25 million euros to cultural policies, with the goal of consolidating a structural path that centers on identity, innovation, and opportunities for the younger generations.”

“The designation of ‘L’Aquila, Italian Capital of Culture 2026’ is not merely an honor, but an act of trust in a community that, through courage and unity, has managed to rise from the ashes and become an example for the entire country,” said Marco Marsilio, President of the Abruzzo Region. “This title honors the past and, at the same time, secures the future. In recent years, L’Aquila has rebuilt its homes, its historic buildings, its churches, and its theaters, but above all, it has rebuilt trust: trust in institutions, in culture, and in the future. For this reason, L’Aquila’s designation as the 2026 Italian Capital of Culture holds significance that extends beyond regional borders. It is a recognition of Italy’s ability to rise again, to preserve its heritage while simultaneously innovating it, and to make culture a driving force for cohesion and development.”