Università degli Studi dell’Aquila

History

Universita degli Studi dell'Aquila is a public state university founded in 1964. On 6 April 2009 the city and university were devastated by a major earthquake; only two university buildings remained structurally sound, and the institution had to rent temporary facilities and rebuild residences in the years that followed.

Academic reputation

In the CENSIS 2024/25 ranking, L'Aquila ranked #1 in Italy in the "Ingegneria industriale e dell'informazione" (industrial/information engineering) subject cluster -- a different cluster from civil/architecture, so this result should not be read as an architecture-specific ranking.

Position in Italian architecture education

A solid, research-active mid-sized public university, nationally excellent in some engineering subfields, but not a top-tier or nationally prestigious pole for architecture specifically -- best understood as a smaller regional university with a genuine, verifiable niche strength in structural/seismic engineering.

The architecture school

DICEAA -- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile-Architettura e Ambientale

DICEAA was formed by merging the pre-existing Department of Structural, Water and Ground Engineering and the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture, both originally part of the Faculty of Engineering founded in 1966-67.

DICEAA holds "Dipartimento di Eccellenza" status, a competitive national research-excellence recognition, and states particular attention to seismic design and adaptation of the widespread building heritage and monumental architecture.

The department hosts CERFIS (Centro di Ricerca e Formazione in Ingegneria Sismica), founded in 2010 explicitly in response to the 2009 earthquake, operating a Seismic Engineering Laboratory with a shaking table and partnerships with EUCENTRE, RELUIS, ICCROM, MCEER and EERC. This seismic-research identity lives at the department/research-centre level rather than being explicitly marketed within the degree programme's own text.

Curriculum by programme

What makes it different

Genuine engineering-architecture hybrid depth: a structural-engineering course sequence (Statica, Scienza delle Costruzioni, Tecnica delle Costruzioni, Geotecnica) is fully integrated with a design-studio spine. The department sits alongside CERFIS, Italy's dedicated post-2009-earthquake seismic-research centre with a shaking-table laboratory and international earthquake-engineering partnerships -- a genuine institutional asset, though not itself part of the marketed programme curriculum. A restoration/heritage strand is embedded in what is otherwise a technical degree, which is not universal among engineering-architecture hybrids nationally.

Is this university right for you?

A good fit if you: want genuine structural/engineering depth alongside design training, are interested in seismic engineering as a live professional context, and want a low-cost, low-competition regional option.

Less suitable if you: want a design-first, prestige-branded architecture school, or are not interested in the structural-engineering side of the LM-4 c.u. hybrid.

Student life

Living cost level: Low

Multiple sources converge on roughly EUR500-600/month total student cost of living in L'Aquila (rent + food + leisure), with shared-room rent around EUR200-250/month -- low relative to Rome, Milan, Florence or Venice, consistent with L'Aquila being a smaller regional city.

Popular student areas include Torrione (central, lively) and Coppito (near the engineering campus at Monteluco di Roio). The city remains visibly a post-earthquake reconstruction city more than 15 years after 2009.

Admission at a glance

For exact seats, dates and fees, see the admissions section above — this is a qualitative summary only.