99 is the number used to identify the city of L’Aquila. 99 like the castles that founded the city in the thirteenth century, creating 99 churches, 99 squares and 99 fountains. In reality the castles were about 60, yet, the number has stayed in the tradition to such a point that, in memory of the founding, the bell of the city’s Civic Tower, up until the earthquake of 2009, sounded 99 times and the oldest monument is the Fountain of the 99 Cannelle.

The name “L’Aquila” was chosen because of the presence of water (from “aquola”, a Latin diminutive of the word “acqua”) and because it sounds like “Acquila” - which is the Italian word for Eagle - the bird of prey figured of imperial family stems. Over the centuries the city has lived through tragic earthquakes and its monuments still bear the scars and these events have given it a unique, acoustic trait made up of abstract sounds which live on in the memories of those people who lived the city before the earthquake, which create solid new or renewed sounds which are characterized in the human perception an ability to listen which is even greater thanks to an increased sensitivity which occurs after important natural events.

Events which have tripled the value of the relationship with nature : in the spaces which have been rediscovered and renewed; in the respect for the environment and the for the source of inspiration and creativity.

L’Aquila is the capital of Abruzzo, the greenest region in Europe. Modern history has recently lent the city with its skyline of cranes the “title” of biggest construction site in all of Europe.

The construction sites rebuild the city’s columns but also contribute to the city’s soundtrack, the tonic underlying all other sounds. L’Aquila is a city which is slowly calling back the voices of the people who live there with renewed faith, amidst the sounds of the water, the building works, the sounds of nature with the birdsong.

A city which is suddenly empty and where the sounds of cars zooming through the old city centre become the main players, or the sound of the wind vibrating small objects until they feel enormous, gloomy and resonant in the grandness of an empty piazza. The omnipresent sound of those bells, celebrating life, an important sound for the past and present history of the city.

From the bells of the Torre Civica which sounded 99 times to celebrate the founding of the city to the bells of the Church of Anime Sante, in Piazza Duomo, which on the night of 6 April ring 309 times in memory of the victims of the earthquake. The story ends in the oldest place, the 99 cannelle which, after listening, will also appear to be inhabited by little workers dedicated to rebuilding an internal flow where everything appears to return to its proper place, easily.

"Music is sounds, sounds which surround us, whether you be in a concert hall or not…" — John Cage