Leaders of the Group of 8 (also known as G8) nations, comprised of Italy, Japan, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Canada, met beginning July 8 in L'Aquila, Italy to mark the beginning of the 35th annual G8 Summit. The conference was originally slated to be held in the Sardinian beach resort town of La Maddalena prior to L'Aquila and its surrounding countryside being ravaged by earthquakes in April. It was consequently determined that the L'Aquila region would be of greater benefit to the economic stimulation that would accomplany the meeting than its South Italian counterpart. As in years past, subjects at the meeting included international security and global poverty, though a great deal of time and energy were devoted to the worldwide economic crisis, which had been shown to have worsened prior to the commencement of the meeting.

Largely unaffected as of yet by foreign tourism, sleepy L'Aquila offers much of the culture, architecture and charm of larger cities like Florence and Venice without the associated crowds. Main tourist attractions include the massive, 16th century Spanish Fort, home to the National Museum of Abruzzo, the 13th century Duomo of Saint Massimo and several other Renaissance-era churches. The city has also become a pilgrimage for gay tourists--19th-century German gay rights icon Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is buried in its cemetery.

The capital of both the region of Abruzzo and the province of L'Aquila, the village of 72,948 sits at an altitude of 721 feet above sea level and is positioned in a picturesque valley formed by the bases of four large mountains. Located about 100 km northeast of Rome, it is most easily accessible from the Italian capital via the new Autostrada A24 highway. Rome's Leonardo DaVinci International Airport can be reached daily from Austin via one-stop service through Atlanta, Newark, Philadelphia and Washington-Dulles on Delta, Continental, US Airways and United, respectively. The city is also served by American Airlines via its New York-JFK and Chicago O'Hare International gateways and by Delta-owned Northwest via Detroit.