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Established in 1952 and located in L'Aquila, the administrative centre of Italy¡¯s Abruzzo Region, the University of L¡¯Aquila (Universit¨¤ degli Studi dell'Aquila) is a public teaching and research institution that offers a range of academic programmes.

These include sport sciences, economics, engineering, education, humanities, medicine, psychology and biotechnologies, but is best known for its engineering, medicine, psychology and science schools.

Offering over 18,000 enrolled students classes across 66 degree courses, it also offers eight research doctorate programmes, specialisation schools, specialised masters courses and vocational courses.

There is a language centre offering courses in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Italian courses for foreign students.

It is also home to The Orto Botanico dell'Universit¨¤ dell'Aquila, a 5.5-hectare botanical garden containing over 460 species. The territory of L'Aquila is the region's most mountainous and the only one without any access to the sea.

Sitting high on a hillside in the middle of a narrow valley, L¡¯Aquila is a lively college town with a maze of narrow streets and Baroque and Renaissance buildings and churches which open out onto elegant piazzas. It has many cultural institutions: a repertory theatre, a symphony orchestra, a fine-arts academy, a state conservatory and a film institute.

There are also several ski resorts in the surrounding province. Although less than an hour-and-a-half drive from Rome, and popular with Romans for summer hiking and winter skiing in surrounding mountains, the city is sparsely visited by tourists.

In April 2009, L¡¯Aquila was hit by a devastating earthquake causing widespread destruction and taking the lives of 309 people.