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L'Aquila was established as Aquila in 1258, with the permission of King Corrado I of Sicily (Roman Emperor Conrad IV), became Aquila degli Abruzzi in 1861 and L'Aquila in 1939.

It fastly developed and became the second city of the kingdom of Naples. It was an authonomous city, ruled by a diarchy composed with the City Council (which had different names and composition along the centuries) and the King's Captain. It fell under the lordship of Niccolò dell'Isola, appointed by people People's Knight, then killed when he became a tyrann. Later, it fell under Pietro "Lalle" Camponeschi, Count of Montorio, who became the third side of a new triarchy, with the Council and the King's Captain. Camponeschi, who was also Great Chancellor of the kingdom of Naples, become too powerfull, and was killed by order of Prince Luigi of Taranto. His descendants fought with the Pretatti family for power along some generations, but never reached again the power of their ancestor. The last, and the one true "lord" of L'Aquila, was Ludovico Franchi, who challenged the power of the pope giving refuge to Alfonso d'Este, former duke of Ferrara, and the children of Giampaolo Baglioni, deposed "lord" of Perugia. At the end, however, Aquilans, always fond of their freedom, made him be deposed and imprisoned by the king of Naples.

The power of L'Aquila was based over the close connection between the city and its mother-villages (99, according to local tradition), which had established the city as a federation, every of them building a borough and considering it as a part of the mother-village. The City Council was originally composed with the Mayors of the villages and the city had no legal existence until King Carlo II of Naples appointed a "Camerlengo" as responsible for city tributes, before payed by every single village, which included its borough in the city (then town.It later became see of a Metropolitan Archbishop of Catholic Church.) Later, the Camerlengo took also political power, as President of the City Council.

This situation stopped in the 16th century, when Spanish viceroy Philibert van Oranje destroyed L'Aquila and established Spanish feudalism in its countryside. The city, separated from its roots, never developed again.It was destroyed, for the third time (the first was in 1258, by King Manfredi of Sicily, while still unfinished), by an earthquake in 1703.

Nowadays, it is a small city, having about 70,000 inhabitants, and the regional capital of Abruzzo. It's a touristic centre, not far from Rome, visited for the Spanish military castle of the 16th century, the romanic basilica of St.Mary of Collemaggio (where pope Celestinus V was crowned and buried), the basilica of St. Bernardin, the medieval fountain of the 99 jets (whose source is still unknown), in memory of the 99 villages which established the city. It's, also, a ski station for Mt.Gran Sasso d'Italia, the highest of the Appennines,the see of many electronic industries, the home city of a rugby team, which was Italy champion for many times. In its countryside, amoung other castles, Roman ruins and ancient monasteries, there is the castle of Rocca Calascio, location for Ladyhawk movie in the 1980s, which is the highest castle of Italy and one of the highest in Europe.