AQUILA, a town of Italy, capital of the province of Abruzzo Ulteriore II., beautifully situated on the Aterno, about 56 miles from Rome. It is a well-built place, containing a citadel, which dates from 1534, a cathedral (S. Bernardino du Siena), as well as numerous other churches and religious establishments, a theatre, a fine town-hall, and a number of ancient mansions, such as the Palazzo Torres, with its picture-gallery, and the Palazzo del Governo, the residence of Margaret of Austria. Its chief manufactures are paper, linen, and wax; and it has a large trade in saffron, the principal product of the surrounding district. Aquila was founded about the year 1240, by the emperor Frederick II. who peopled it with the inhabitants of the ancient Amiternm, the birthplace of Sallust, the ruins of which are still to be seen about 3 miles from the town. It soon became a very flourishing city; but war, pestilence, and especially earthquakes (1703, 1706), have done much to reduce its importance. Population, 16,607.