Cerchio (Abruzzese: Circhië) is a comune and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy.

Patron saints of the town are S. Giovanni and S. Paolo (John and Paul).

Local legend says that the town arose from a small group of houses constructed around a theater (circo) set up by the Romans to celebrate the inauguration of Emperor Claudius, who drained the ancient Fucine lake.

During the medieval period the village was held by the Colonna and Piccolomini families of Rome, who granted it to Camilla Peretti in 1591, along with the County of Celano and the Barony of Pescina.

Families from Cerchio then farmed the rich soils of the lake bed, working as tenant farmers, sharecroppers and day-laborers under the Torlonia Administration.