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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, complainted about him at the court of Naples and he was deposed and imprisoned. The power of L'Aquila, based over the close connection between the city and its villages (who had established it in a kind of federation, every of them (99 according to local tradition)building a borough with its square, church and fountain, and having - originally- a member for every of them in the city council), stopped in the 16th century, when Spanish viceroy Philibert van Oranje destroyed it and established Spanish feudalism in its countryside. It was destroyed, for the third time (the first was in 1258, by King Manfredi of Sicily), 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.