Borgo Universo

Borgo Universo is an open-air museum that uses the language of art and astronomy to tell and enrich the history of Aielli, a medieval village in the Aquila province. The festival of the same name, now in its seventh edition, has transformed the village over the years into a veritable art gallery with around 40 murals created by internationally renowned artists, as well as sculptural works and other exhibitions and installations. The language of street art, born as a spontaneous and unauthorised artistic movement, is increasingly used as a tool for the regeneration and rebirth of places and communities. In the context of Aielli it fits in as a unique and innovative tool to populate these increasingly abandoned territories with a regeneration that is not only artistic but also social, cultural and economic. 

The link with the universe began thanks to Filippo Angelitti, an astronomer born in Aielli in 1856, and continues today inside the Torre delle Stelle, which is now the highest astronomical observatory in central Italy. Inside, you can visit the sky museum and immerse yourself in journeys and adventures to discover our universe through astronomical observations and planetarium shows. Borgo Universo is not only a creative way of telling and enhancing the history of the town, but also and above all an attempt to design a new future for this area, opening it up to the rest of the world and to contact with different cultures, traditions and histories. It is a process of urban regeneration, but at the same time cultural, social and economic.