Editing L'Aquila (section)

===Modern era===
This period of freedom and prosperity ended in the 16th century, when Spanish viceroy [[Philibert of Châlon|Philibert van Oranje]] partially destroyed L'Aquila and established Spanish [[feudalism]] in its countryside. The city, separated from its roots, never developed again. Ancient privileges were revoked. L'Aquila was again destroyed by an [[1703 Apennine earthquakes|earthquake]] in 1703. Successive earthquakes have repeatedly damaged the city's large [[L'Aquila Cathedral|cathedral]], and destroyed the original dome of the [[Basilica of San Bernardino]], designed along the lines of the dome of [[Florence Cathedral|Santa Maria del Fiore]] in Florence. The city was also sacked two times by [[Napoleonic Wars|French troops]] in 1799.

L'Aquila, like so much of Italy, is a city of political contrasts. In the 1970s a novel by [[Alberto Moravia]] was seized because it was considered obscene, a local Catholic Archbishop protested the nudity of a centuries-old statue of a young man, and a group of local reactionaries even asked for the seizure of the £50 coin because it showed a naked man. In October 2003, however, a liberal judge in l'Aquila ordered the small town of [[Ofena]] to remove a crucifix from its elementary school so as not to offend the religious sensibilities of two young [[Muslim]] students. After a national outcry, the judge's decision was overturned. In May 2007 [[Massimo Cialente]], a physician and medical researcher, was [[Mayor|elected mayor]] of L'Aquila with a [[centre-left]] coalition.