Rieti is an Italian town of 47 149 inhabitants in Lazio, the
capital of the homonymous province and the capital of the historical
region of Sabina. The ethnic "Rieti" comes etymologically from the
Latin name of the city, Reate.
Considered by the authors of
the classical age to be the geographic center of Italy (Umbilicus
Italiae), Rieti rises in the fertile Piana Reatina on the slopes of
Mount Terminillo, on the banks of the Velino river, in an area rich
in water that supplies the capital with much of drinking water it
needs.
Of even more ancient origins than Rome, it was founded
at the beginning of the Iron Age and became an important city of the
Sabines. It was conquered by the Romans in 290 BC and, after the
fall of the empire, by the Visigoths; under the Lombards it was
gastaldato in the Duchy of Spoleto. It became part of the Papal
State and constituted a border territory with the Kingdom of Naples
and in the 13th century it was frequently the seat of the pope.
After the annexation in 1860 to the Kingdom of Italy it was
aggregated to the province of Perugia, in Umbria, until in 1927 the
province of Rieti was established passing through Lazio.
The historic center is characteristic, located on a slight hill on
the edge of the Rieti valley, protected on one side by a wall of
medieval origin that is still well preserved. Via Roma, one of the
liveliest in the centre, divides the city into the medieval districts of
San Francesco, San Rufo, della Verdura and Santa Lucia.
The city
can count on the presence of two Franciscan sanctuaries, that of Fonte
Colombo and that of La Foresta and on the proximity to two others,
located in the nearby municipalities of Greccio and Poggio Bustone. In
fact, many pilgrims arrive in the "Holy Valley" to retrace, with the
path of Francis, the deeds and moments of the life of Saint Francis of
Assisi.
Cathedral basilica of Santa Maria Assunta
Built between 1109 and
1225, it has a Romanesque style exterior and a Baroque interior. The
complex includes a crypt, the bell tower from 1252, the baptistery
(which houses the Diocesan Museum of Rieti), the portico from 1458 and
several eighteenth-century chapels, including the one dedicated to Santa
Barbara, designed by Bernini. Inside there are sculptures by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini, Giovanni Antonio Mari, Lorenzo Ottoni, Federico di
Filippo di Ubaldo da Firenze and paintings by Antoniazzo Romano, his son
Marcantonio Aquili, Lorenzo Torresani, Andrea Sacchi, Giovan Francesco
Romanelli, Lattanzio Niccoli and Vincenzo Manenti.
Basilica of
Sant'Agostino
Built in the mid-13th century, it is one of the most
important churches in Rieti. The façade, in Romanesque-Gothic style, is
made of stone and has an entrance portal surmounted by a tympanum and a
rose window, and ends with a slightly protruding attic. The interior,
with a single nave, is surmounted by wooden trusses and ends in three
apses onto which there is a three-lancet window and two mullioned
windows.
Church of San Domenico
The church of San Domenico was
built in 1266, the day after the canonization (which took place in
Rieti) of the founder of the Dominican order. It was recovered and
reopened after a deterioration that had lasted for almost two centuries.
The interior is consequently rather bare, but two frescoes by Liberato
da Rieti were saved (one of which was detached and moved to the Civic
Museum in the sixties) and the imposing Dom Bedos-Roubo organ was built
there, which measures 14 meters high and was built on the basis of two
eighteenth-century treaties.
Convent of San Domenico (cloister of
the Blessed Colomba and oratory of San Pietro martyr)
Attached to the
church of San Domenico is the former convent, which includes the
cloister of the Blessed Colomba, adorned with frescoed lunettes and an
Italian garden and the oratory of San Pietro martire, a small chapel
which houses an important fresco of the Last Judgment by the brothers
Lorenzo and Bartolomeo Torresani (1552-1554); however, the convent is
part of the Verdirosi barracks[59] and to access it, only on
pre-established days, a permit is required.
Church of San
Francesco
Built in 1253, it overlooks the square of the same name; it
was the second church to be dedicated to the cult of the saint, after
the basilica of Assisi. Built in Romanesque-Gothic style with a very
simple stone pediment façade, equipped with a splayed door surmounted by
a lunette and a small rose window. The interior has three naves, with a
trussed roof that replaces the original baroque vault which collapsed
during the earthquake of 1898. Next to the church itself is the oratory
of San Bernardino and the former convent with cloister, home to the
Carlo Jucci scientific high school. Every year the celebrations for June
Antoniano take place inside the church and the Procession of
Sant'Antonio starts from here.
Franciscan sanctuaries of the Holy
Valley
In the surroundings of Rieti there are the four sanctuaries
founded by Saint Francis of Assisi, which give the plain on which Rieti
stands the name of Valle Santa. The sanctuaries of Fonte Colombo and
della Foresta fall within the municipal territory of Rieti, located in
isolated positions on two hills on the edge of the plain, respectively
near the hamlets of Sant'Elia and Castelfranco; to these are added those
of Greccio and Poggio Bustone, located in the respective neighboring
municipalities. The route that connects the four sanctuaries is a
well-known and much visited pilgrimage route, called the path of
Francis.
Church of Sant'Antonio Abate
Commissioned from
Vignola in 1570 and completed in the 17th century, it is part of a
14th-century architectural complex which also includes a hospital and a
cemetery; the building is closed to the public, abandoned in a state of
profound degradation.
Church of Santa Lucia
The church and
convent of Santa Lucia were founded in 1253 thanks to the interest of
Blessed Angelo Tancredi. The currently visible church is the result of
interventions dating back to the first half of the eighteenth century.
The convent was very important in the past, and three nieces of Bernini
were nuns there, who for this reason created two statues and the main
altar, which are preserved in the church, and perhaps a painting (most
likely the work of Ciro Ferri). The convent, expropriated after the
unification of Italy, hosts a cultural center which includes the
Paroniana municipal library and a section of the civic museum.
Church of San Rufo
The church of San Rufo is located in the small
square of the same name in which, according to tradition, the center of
Italy is located (Umbilicus Italiae). The church has early medieval
origins, but the currently visible building dates back to 1748 and is
the work of Melchiorre Passalacqua. The exterior is in neoclassical
style, while the interior is Baroque and houses the most important
painting in the city, The Guardian Angel, now believed to be the work of
Spadarino but in the past even attributed to Caravaggio.
former
Church of Santa Scolastica
Built between 1696 and 1717 to a design by
Francesco Fontana, it is the only church in Rieti with a Greek cross
plan; it is deconsecrated and constitutes the Varro Auditorium.
Church of San Pietro Martire
It was built in 1266 by the Cistercian
Fathers. The façade in travertine blocks delimited by two pilasters is
extremely simple and the most important element is the portal from 1546,
the work of Giacomo da Locarno and Stefano da Como, which has six stone
columns (three on each side) each supported, on a shield depicting a
bust of San Piero and which support an architrave. This portal was
originally located in the facade of the oratory of San Pietro martire
(church of San Domenico) and was moved to its current position in 1576.
former Church of San Pietro Apostolo
Of origin before the 12th
century, it is located in via Roma; deconsecrated, it is home to a
bookshop.
Convent of Sant'Antonio al Monte
Built at the end of
the 15th century, it is located on the San Biagio hill to the south of
the city. The church was extensively renovated in the mid-17th century.
former Church of San Giovenale and San Vincenzo Ferreri, known as
Santa Maria della Scala
The church, deconsecrated and known as the
Auditorium of the Poor, hosts cultural events. Inside there is the
bas-relief The Genius of Death by Bertel Thorvaldsen, a pupil of Canova,
commissioned by Angelo Maria Ricci for the tomb of his wife Isabella
Ricci Alfani.
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
Seventh
Day Adventist Church
Assemblies of God in Italy (ADI)
International Christian Evangelical Missionary Church
Christian
Orthodox Church of Saints Barbara and Joseph New of Patros
Peace
Mosque
Remains of the Roman Bridge
Built in the 3rd century BC, the Roman
Bridge was part of the ancient consular Via Salaria, and represented the
main access to the city from the south, as well as the connection
between the historic center and the Borgo district. It was demolished in
the 1930s due to its insufficient height compared to the river level,
which had flooded and damaged it several times. The remains of the
bridge were placed in the water and emerged from the seabed of the
Velino, alongside the modern bridge built after the war.
Flavian
Vespasian Theatre
Located along Via Garibaldi, intense theatrical
activity takes place there every year. It was built at the end of the
nineteenth century and the theater's acoustics are considered the best
in Italy and one of the best in the world.
Bishop's Palace or
Papal Palace
Built in 1283 due to the presence of the papal curia in
Rieti, the Bishop's Palace was the home of several pontiffs. It is
located to the right of the Cathedral, with the side along Via Cintia.
The Romanesque façade contains a loggia, restored to its original
appearance with a restoration at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The ground floor houses majestic Gothic cross vaults with two naves,
supported by six pillars; on the first floor there is the audience hall,
which since 2005 has housed the art gallery of the diocesan museum.
Town Hall
It is the most important building in Piazza Vittorio
Emanuele II and is the seat of the town hall as well as the civic
museum. The building is the result of many expansion and renovation
works on a structure dating back to the 13th century.[65] The façade
(work by Filippo Brioni, 1748) has a late Baroque style with two orders
of windows, and culminates in a small bell tower; on the ground floor
there is a portico, under which there is a bust of Giuseppe Garibaldi
and one of Vittorio Emanuele II. On its left side stands a five-storey
tower covered in travertine, built in 1940.
Palazzo Dosi Delfini
It stands on Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and is the headquarters of the
Sabina Universitas. The façade, in ashlar limestone, integrates late
Baroque elements with some neoclassical elements. Inside the building
there is a small elliptical courtyard and on the first floor level a
bronze statue of Santa Barbara can be observed.
Palazzo
Vincentini (of the Prefecture or Government)
It is a Renaissance
palace that stands on Piazza Cesare Battisti; today it is the seat of
the prefecture. Its renovation into its current form began in 1589 on a
debated attribution project: in the past it was attributed to Vignola
due to the shapes that recall him, but today it is believed to be the
work of Giovan Domenico Bianchi.
The side facing the Cathedral is
equipped with a splendid loggia formed by two orders of arches, which
overlooks an Italian garden from which you can enjoy a panoramic view of
the south side of the city; the garden has been publicly accessible
since 1927, when the Vincentini family sold the building to the newly
formed province of Rieti. Inside, the ground floor is decorated with
paintings from 1932 depicting Marco Terenzio Varro and Tito Flavio
Vespasiano; on the first floor there are the rooms where the Prefect
stays, and the polychrome marble fireplace dating back to the sixteenth
century, which bears gold inscriptions, is of particular importance.
Palazzo Vecchiarelli
It is located along Via Roma, with an
imposing portal and an elegant late Renaissance façade. It was built at
the end of the 16th century based on a design by Carlo Maderno.
Vincenti Mareri Palace
Dating back to the 19th century, it is the
historic residence of the Vincenti Mareri counts. Its current
neoclassical appearance is the work of Giuseppe Valadier, who enlarged
it by merging it with the pre-existing Aligeri and Cerroni palaces. Two
ashlar portals give access to the internal courtyard, where there is an
Italian garden with a fountain on which there is a terracotta statue of
Ceres, a copy of a Roman original.
Palazzo Ricci
An example of
neoclassical architecture, its façade is in Piazza Oberdan and its side
is in Piazza Mazzini. It belonged to the noble family of Angelo Maria
Ricci; today it houses municipal administration offices. The palace was
home to a notable collection of pictorial works mainly from the
seventeenth century, the flagship of which was the original plaster of
the Hebe by Antonio Canova currently preserved in the Civic Museum of
Rieti.
Palazzo Potenziani Fabri
It is located in via dei
Crispolti and inside it houses a series of frescoes. Founded in the 13th
century, it was owned first by the Fabri family and then by the
Potenziani until 1979, when it underwent a demanding restoration, which
allowed it to be brought back to its original appearance. Today it
belongs to the Varrone Foundation, which has located its headquarters
there; for this reason it is not always open to visitors.
Secenari Palace
Dating back to the 14th century, it is located in Via
Roma and is distinguished by a 15th-century mullioned window.
Seminary Palace
Built on the site of the Palazzo Pretorio and the
Podestà (end of the 13th century), it was transformed into a diocesan
seminary and inaugurated in 1564; it was the first seminary to be
established according to the norms of the Council of Trent[67], if we
exclude the very small seminary of Larino. The works for the
transformation of the building were directed by Vignola, but the
expansions of the following centuries make it difficult to identify the
characteristics of his intervention.
Crispolti Palace
Built in
the early 18th century to a design by Michele Chiesa from Como, with a
façade redesigned in 1814 by Giuseppe Subleyras. In 1877 it was sold by
the Crispolti family to the then Cassa di Risparmio di Rieti and
refitted according to a design by the engineer Angelo Blasetti; since
then it has housed the offices of its headquarters.
Post Office
Building
Built in 1934, it is located at the end of via Garibaldi and
is the work of the architect Cesare Bazzani.
Headquarters of the
provincial Carabinieri command
Located in the Micioccoli district,
the building was built in 2003 based on a design by architect Manfredi
Nicoletti.
Roman walls
The Roman-era city walls have largely disappeared, but
numerous traces remain visible, especially in cases where buildings from
a later period reused the blocks.
Medieval walls
Dating back
to the 13th century, they are considered among the most impressive and
best preserved in Lazio. They surround the city along the entire
northern side, and formed an effective defensive system together with
the Velino river and the cavatelle, now dried up, of the Borgo and Fiume
de' Nobili. Five doors open along the walls:
Porta d'Arci, to the
east, on the Via Salaria to Cittaducale, L'Aquila and Ascoli Piceno;
Porta Conca, to the north; it still retains the wooden shutters from the
sixteenth century;
Porta San Giovanni, to the north, at the end of
via Pennina which forms the north-south axis of the historic center with
via Roma. Walled in the 15th century, its traces are still visible and a
small gap allows pedestrians to pass;
Porta Cintia, to the
north-west, on the road to Terni; it was destroyed during the Second
World War and in its place today there are two reinforced concrete
buildings in rationalist style;
Porta Romana, south, across the
river, on the Via Salaria to Rome.
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
It is the main square of the city. The
Palazzo Comunale and Palazzo Dosi as well as the historic Gengarelli and
Quattro Stagioni cafés overlook it. Inside there is the
seventeenth-century Dolphin Fountain.
Via Roma
It is the main
street of the center of Rieti, and represents its cardo. The road
surface is supported by the arches of the Roman viaduct from the 3rd
century BC, which constituted the urban part of the ancient Via Salaria;
the viaduct can be visited via the guided tour of underground Rieti,
which winds through the cellars of the noble palaces that line the
street.
Via Cintia and via Garibaldi
Via Cintia and via
Garibaldi constitute the decumanus of the city; along them there are
some of the most important buildings in Rieti.
Piazza San Rufo
Central Italy
Piazza San Rufo is a small, typically medieval square,
reachable from four narrow alleys. In addition to hosting the church of
the same name (described above), tradition identifies the exact location
of the geographical center of the Italian peninsula (Umbilicus Italiae).
To remember him, there is a monument (built in 2001 and jokingly called
"la caciotta" due to its low, circular shape that resembles a wheel of
cheese) and a plaque.
Arch of Boniface VIII or Arch of the Bishop
It crosses via Cintia leaning on the Bishop's Palace, it was built by
Pope Boniface VIII in 1298, after having witnessed in terror an
earthquake that hit the city.
Other medieval arches
The
streets of the historic center of Rieti are dotted with medieval arches;
among others we remember those of Santa Lucia (13th century), of the
Seminary and of via del Forno.
Wells area
The area of Via dei
Pozzi is characterized by an urban fabric typical of the medieval city,
with narrow alleys and arches.
"Pincetto"
The "pincetto" is a
ramp that connects Piazza Oberdan with Via Centuroni, so called due to
the analogy with that of the Pincio in Rome.
Civic Museum
It consists of a historical-artistic section, located
in the Palazzo Comunale, and an archaeological section, located a short
distance away in the former monastery of Santa Lucia. Among the main
works preserved there are: a Hebe by Antonio Canova (1815), a polyptych
by Luca di Tommè (1370), various works by Antoniazzo Romano including
the Madonna del Latte (the oldest attributed to him, 1464), the triptych
Crucifixion by Zanino di Pietro and various works by the Rieti artists
Antonio Gherardi, Carlo Cesi and Antonino Calcagnadoro (to whom an
entire room is dedicated); in the archaeological section sculptures,
coins, goldsmithery and objects from the prehistoric, Etruscan,
Hellenistic and Roman periods are on display, including a gabled urn
from the Iron Age from the necropolis of Campo Reatino.
Diocesan
Museum of Ecclesiastical Heritage
It is a museum itinerary consisting
of the Cathedral Treasure Museum (housed in the Cathedral's baptistery),
a museum of liturgical furnishings (located in rooms adjacent to the
Cathedral's Crypt), a lapidary (located in the vestibule that leads from
the crypt to the Bishop's Palace), and from the Diocesan Art Gallery
(set up in the audience hall of the Bishop's Palace).
National monument to the Lira
In Piazza Cavour there is a monument
dedicated to the Italian lira, inaugurated on 1 March 2003 following the
introduction of the Euro. Made with the fusion of 2,200,000 200 lire
coins at the Caggiati foundries in Parma, designed by Daniela Fusco, the
work represents turreted Italy supporting a large one lira coin, while
on one of the many drapes enveloping it is the writing "Italy for the
Lira". The front side of the coin shows the engraving of the Lira minted
in 1951, while the reverse side originally corresponded to that of the
one lira coin issued in 1861, but was replaced in 2008 and today the
statue holds in its hands a coin with the obverses of the first and last
Lira minted. The statue faces the Roman Bridge, while on one side a
small stream of water flows which symbolizes the Velino river, the
symbol of the wealth of Rieti and its province: water. Rieti was chosen
for the location of the monument for its symbolic value, given that the
Sabine capital is historically recognized as the center of the
peninsula.
War Memorial
The war memorial, the work of the
sculptor Giuseppe Inghilleri and Giuseppe Calcagnadoro, is located in
Piazza Mazzini and represents the figure of Victory supporting a war
hero shot to death. It was inaugurated together with the study building
(classical high school/teachers' institute) on 13 June 1926.
Mount Terminillo
The municipal territory of Rieti includes a large
part of Mount Terminillo (2217 m above sea level), the third highest
peak in Lazio, which is a very popular destination during the winter
season. Thousands of people, coming from all over the region, take
advantage of the ski season to appreciate the beauty of the mountains,
taking advantage of the numerous hotels present. However, the number of
tourists has significantly decreased over the last thirty years, mainly
due to obsolete facilities that have not changed for decades, and the
lack of rapid connections with other cities. The large crowds of
tourists, especially Romans, regularly present in the sixties and
seventies (so much so that Terminillo earned the nickname "Mountain of
Rome"), gradually flocked to the nearby mountains of Abruzzo, better
equipped and connected to Rome by A24 motorway. Today we are trying to
give new impetus to the mountains, an example of this is the lighting of
a section of the cross-country tracks which can thus also be used at
night, and the modernization of some systems. However, the mountain does
not only offer attractions for ski lovers: in fact, even in summer it is
suitable for excursions along the marked CAI routes.
Reatina
plain
The plain where Rieti is located is a predominantly cultivated
area and still sparsely populated. Surrounded by Terminillo and the
Sabine mountains, it offers a picturesque landscape made up of fields
cultivated with corn or sunflowers, rural farmhouses and waterways. In
the summer, many people from Rieti go for a walk or to do sports along
the many farm roads that run through it or along the Conca Reatina cycle
path.
Partial natural reserve of the Lungo and Ripasottile lakes
Within the Reatina Plain there is also the nature reserve of the Lungo
and Ripasottile Lakes, which is about 7 km from the capital and extends
for 3200 hectares, divided between the territory of Rieti and the
neighboring municipalities. Inside there are Lake Lungo and Lake
Ripasottile, the only natural water basins remaining after the drying up
of the ancient Lake Velino, around which a wetland dominated by reeds
extends; in the reserve you can observe mallards, gurnards, herons and
other migratory birds.
Francis' path
It is the pilgrimage
route that winds through the Reatina Plain and retraces the steps of
Saint Francis of Assisi in the Holy Valley, touching the four Franciscan
sanctuaries (Greccio, La Foresta, Fonte Colombo and Poggio Bustone) and
other symbolic places of Franciscanism. It is a valid proposal both in
the field of religious tourism and in the naturalistic field. The route,
approximately 80 km long, is divided into eight stages and also touches
the center of Rieti. Since 2003 it has been equipped with signs and
indications that allow travelers to orient themselves along the route,
and a certificate called "Passport" has also been created, given to all
those who undertake the journey, which documents the actual completion
of the route, to be stamped at each stage.
Velino River
The
Velino river crosses the city and delimits the historic center to the
south, separating it from the Borgo district, and once constituted its
natural defense together with the city walls. It still maintains much of
the clarity that has always characterized it, so much so that even the
city stretch is inhabited by geese and mallards, regularly visible even
in the most central stretches of the river. In Rieti there are few
riverside avenues, which is why the banks of the Velino have a "green"
and non-urbanized appearance. The left bank of the river (the southern
one) today is entirely followed by a cycle/pedestrian path, a
destination for those who love running outdoors or simply taking walks
or bicycle rides, which forms a kind of urban park and in its first
stretch is equipped with benches and gymnastic equipment (so-called
"Giorlandina"). The Velino is crossed by seven bridges, from west to
east: "Ponte di ferro" (road and railway), the Campo Scuola
cycle-pedestrian bridge, Ponte Giovanni XXIII, Ponte Romano, the
cycle-pedestrian bridge between Piazza San Francesco and Piazza Cavour,
and Ponte Cavallotti .
Source Cottorella
The Fonte Cottorella
springs are located about one kilometer south of the city; Low mineral
content water flows from these sources. Around the springs there is a
green area with benches and tables, as well as a spa and a restaurant.
Forest Hill
The Foresta hill (600 meters above sea level) is a
hill located north-east of the city, represents the extreme southern
offshoot of the Reatini mountains, and is located between the Micioccoli
and Campoloniano districts. Its summit can be reached by traveling along
provincial road no. for about four kilometres. 7; on it there is the
hamlet of Castelfranco and the sanctuary of the Forest. Various paths,
especially near the sanctuary, allow you to immerse yourself in the
dense vegetation that covers it. There is also a restaurant and a golf
club on the hill.
Colle San Mauro
Colle San Mauro (530 meters
above sea level) is located east of the historic center and south of the
Villa Reatina district. Traveling along the road that leads you for 400
metres, starting from the central Porta D'Arci, you will find a pine
forest equipped as an urban park, with picnic tables, and a few hundred
meters further on a viewpoint, from where you can enjoy an excellent
panorama of the historic center of the city. On the hill there are also
the convent of the Capuchin friars and the Villa Potenziani (now a
hotel). The vegetation includes holm oaks, firs and Aleppo pines.
City parks
Among the municipal public parks, the main one is the
"victims of April 6, 2009" park in via Liberato di Benedetto (extending
for two and a half hectares), where the Student Festival is held every
year. Smaller (around one hectare) are the "6 June 1944" park in
Campomoro, the "Coriandolo" park in Madonna del Cuore (where the Rieti
Sport Festival is held annually) and the "Paul Harris" in Micioccoli.
The center of Rieti rises at an altitude of 405 m
s.l.m. on a small hill in the south-east corner of the plain called
Piana Reatina, at the foot of the San Mauro (or Cappuccini),
Sant'Antonio al Monte and Monte Belvedere hills. The plain extends
for about 90 km² and is enclosed by the Reatini Mountains (including
Monte Terminillo) to the east, by the Sabine Mountains to the west
and is cut by the Velino river which receives the waters of the
Salto and Turano rivers.
The plain was once occupied by the
waters of Lacus Velinus; it was reclaimed in Roman times by opening
a gap in the limestone accumulated over the centuries near Marmore,
thus generating the homonymous waterfall. Minor stretches of water
remain of this lake: the Piediluco lake (province of Terni), that of
Ventina and the Lungo and Ripasottile lakes, the last two protected
by the homonymous nature reserve.
Rieti is located in an area
very rich in water: just outside the town are the Fonti di
Cottorella, which provide low mineral content water; in the
neighboring municipality of Cittaducale there are the springs of the
Peschiera, which with the homonymous aqueduct provide much of the
water needed in Rome (about 550 million cubic meters per year); in
Cotilia there are some important spas and springs of sulphurous
water. In the northern part of the valley are the Sources of Santa
Susanna, with a flow rate of 5 mc / s, while 2 km east of the city
at an altitude of 400 m a.s.l. there are the Sorgenti del Cantaro,
which have a flow rate of about 500 liters per second and are
probably fed by a geological spring located at an altitude of 450 m
near Vazia.
According to the Geological Map of Italy drawn up
by the Geological Service of Italy, the land on which the center and
the outskirts of Rieti stand is made up of "recent terraced fluvial
floods" and "recent fluvial-lacustrine", while the areas near the
lakes they consist of "dark gray and brown limnopalustri soils" and
"peaty places".
The nature of the land means that the area of
the Rieti basin is an area with a high hydrogeological risk,
including, according to the 2008 data of Legambiente, the
Municipality of Rieti.
The territory surrounding the town of
Rieti is characterized by mountain massifs that exceed two thousand
meters: the chain of the Reatini mountains with the Terminillo, the
Duchessa mountains and the Laga mountains (2458 m), the highest in
Lazio.
The municipality of Rieti is located in a seismic
territory: it is affected by a system of faults that extends between
the Rieti basin and the Reatini mountains. These faults proved
active and capable of triggering strong earthquakes, the most
destructive of which was the earthquake of 76 BC. (magnitude 6.6),
the earthquake of 1298 (magnitude 6.2) and the earthquake of 1898
(magnitude 5.3), in all cases with a considerable number of damages
or victims (VIII degree of the Mercalli scale). In the seismic
classification of Italy, the municipal territory is divided into two
zones: the eastern part of the municipality, with the districts of
Villa Reatina and Campoloniano, falls within zone 2A (high
seismicity) while the western part in zone 2B (medium-high
seismicity ).
The municipality is further exposed to seismic
risk due to its proximity to very active faults (Valle del Salto,
Aquilano, Valle del Tronto, Valnerina), which is exacerbated by
various amplification effects. The city, in fact, has been severely
hit on several occasions by earthquakes with a distant epicenter:
the most serious were the earthquake of 1349 (Valle del Salto) and
the earthquakes of 1703 (Cittareale / Aquilano), which also caused
victims and collapses. Only slight damage occurred from the
earthquakes of 1979 (Valnerina), 1997 (Umbria) and 2016 (Amatrice
and Valle del Tronto).
The climate is continental
at the bottom of the valley. In winter it is cold and humid (average
temperature of the coldest month of 2.9 degrees), with the minimum
below zero for 80 days a year; the fogs are very frequent and
persistent sometimes even for the whole day. In summer it is
moderately hot (average of the hottest month of 21.2 degrees) but
the wide temperature variations mean that summer nights are cool (in
the hottest month the average minimum is 12.9 degrees); after
L'Aquila, Rieti is the second capital of the province with the
lowest lows from April to September.
The rainfall exceeds 1
000 mm per year, distributed over about 100 rainy days per year,
with two maximums: the main one in autumn and the secondary one in
late spring. Frequent summer thunderstorms, with an average of 15
days of rain in the period June-August. Snowfalls are rarer in the
valley floor, with an annual average of 25 cm of snow at an altitude
of 400 m a.s.l. which rises to over 200 cm in the mountain hamlet of
Campoforogna.
In 2008 average annual temperature +12.7 ° C, minimum -10.3 ° C,
maximum +35.4 ° C, rain 1 411 mm in 106 days, average daily
excursion 13.9 ° C, average excursion in August 19.2 ° C, 3 months
(January, February and December) with average minimum temperatures
below zero degrees, 7 months without frost, maximum temperature of
the coldest day +3.3 ° C, minimum temperature of the hottest day +
17.8 ° C.
Cold records in 1956, January 1985 and 2002,
February 2012 and 2018: -20 ° C, -23.8 ° C, -15.0 ° C, -14.9 ° C,
-15.1 ° respectively C, with snow accumulations on the ground
between 40 and 70 cm. Record of heat 37.4 ° C in 2012, 37.1 ° C in
2011 and 40.4 ° C in 2017.
The name of
the city of Rieti derives from Reate, the ancient Latin name of the
city. The name of the inhabitants also derives from the Latin Reate,
called Rieti (and not Rietini as they are often erroneously
indicated).
The origins of the name Reate are lost in the
mists of time and there are more hypotheses.
A first version
has it that the name derives from Rea Silvia, the mother of Romulus
and Remus. In fact, according to the Florentine historian Giovanni
Villani, Rea Silvia was buried alive in Rieti, by the hand of her
uncle Amulio, furious for the vow of chastity broken by her niece.
Villani therefore believes that Rea Silvia is the woman depicted in
the upper part of the city coat of arms. Implicit in this
interpretation is the ancient link between Rieti and Rome:
identifying Rieti with Rea Silvia, mother of the founders of Rome,
the role of the city as "mother of Rome" is underlined, a role
repeatedly attributed to it by the legend (the rape of Sabine traces
the descent of most of the Roman people to the Sabine lineage), but
also from history (the influence and frequent relations between the
Romans and the Sabines are certain, very powerful people even before
the foundation of Rome, which expressed two of the his seven kings).
A second version wants that the name of Reate derives instead
from Rea, mother of all the gods and wife of Cronus.
Another
version has it that the name derives from the Greek root reo (which
means "to flow"), with evident reference to water, the ancient
wealth of the Rieti territory, and to the disappeared Lago Velino
which conditioned its history and development.
Ancient Rheate, according to legend founded by the goddess Rhea,
arose at the beginning of the Iron Age, around the 9th-8th century BC.
The lands around Rieti were probably originally inhabited by the
Umbrians, to then be conquered by the Aborigines, among whom Rieti took
on particular importance after the inhabitants of Lista took refuge
there, and then conquered by the Sabines who, as archaeological findings
suggest , they reached the territories near the Tiber.
Just as the foundation of the city is lost in legend, even the first
contacts with Rome do not have defined contours, even if it is certain
that an interpenetration took place between the Romans and Sabines and
that from a certain moment the inhabitants of Cures Sabini settled on
the Quirinal hill , contributing significantly to the growth and
strengthening of Rome.
The legend of the rape of the Sabine women
traces back the relationships between the two peoples immediately after
the foundation of Rome, when Romulus, in search of alliances and women
with whom to populate the city, kidnapped by deception the women of the
city of Crustumerium of origin Sabina unleashing the war between Rome
and neighboring peoples. The battle of Lake Curzio was interrupted only
when the kidnapped women threw themselves into the arms of the
contenders, imposing a truce between Romulus and Titus Tatius and the
birth of a collaboration between the two peoples. According to a more
purely historical version, it was the continuous search for lowland
pastures that pushed the Sabines to press into the territory of Rome and
settle on the Quirinale.
In any case, in royal Rome the
inhabitants of Cures Sabini, counted in the Roman tribe of the Tities,
produced two Kings of Rome (Numa Pompilius and Ancus Martius) of Rieti
origin, some of the most ancient Roman gens (Curtia, Pompilia, Marcia,
Claudia , Valeria and Hostilia). Despite living together within the same
walls, over the centuries the conflicts between the Romans and the
Sabines remained strong, and there were numerous wars and military
actions against each other.
After numerous conflicts, Reate was
finally subjected to Rome in 290 BC. by the consul Manius Curio
Dentatus. Large territories in the plain of Reate and Amiternum were
confiscated and distributed to the Romans; the Sabina population was
offered Roman citizenship without the right to vote, but already in 268
BC. he was granted Roman citizenship with inclusion in two new tribes,
the Quirina and the Velina.
Consul Manio Curio Dentato was also
responsible for the reclamation of the ancient lacus Velinus, carried
out by flowing the waters into the nearby Nera river and thus giving
life to the Marmore waterfall, which allowed cultivation on a large
fertile plain. The Roman conquest saw an urban transformation of the
city, with the construction of the Roman Bridge and the viaduct,
corresponding to the current Via Roma, with which the Via Salaria
crossed the Velino river and the subsequent marshy area climbing up to
the forum (current Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II).
The process of
Christianization of the Rieti area was started by San Prosdocimo in the
1st century, while the diocese of Rieti was founded in the 5th century.
Following the fall of the Roman Empire, in the 6th century Rieti saw
the arrival of the Lombards, who entered the peninsula in 568.
Barbarians and pagans, they soon had to convert to Christianity through
the work of the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Farfa. In 592 AD the
territory of Rieti became part of the Duchy of Spoleto and Rieti was the
seat of a gastaldato.
After the sacking of the Saracens, which
occurred during the 10th century, the city was rebuilt. The figure of
the Bishop assumed fundamental importance with the reconstruction of the
cathedral in 1109.
In 1151 the city was besieged, taken by
starvation and then destroyed by Roger II the Norman.
It became a
free municipality in 1171 and sided with the Guelph front, subjecting
itself to papal protection.
On 23 August 1185, the marriage
between Constance of Hauteville and Henry VI of Swabia, son of Frederick
Barbarossa and future emperor, was celebrated in Rieti in the presence
of only the bride (Henry was held in Germany for his mother's funeral).
The marriage was repeated in Milan on 27 January 1186; Rieti was chosen
for the symbolic and political value that the approval of the Church had
in the first city beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Sicily
encountered by Costanza on her way from Palermo to Milan, which she
traveled accompanied by a sumptuous procession of princes and barons.
The entire 13th century was a period of splendor and economic
prosperity for the city of Rieti, which was often elected as a papal
seat: within a century the popes Innocent III (1198), Honorius III (in
1219 and 1225) resided there ), Gregory IX (in 1227, 1232 and 1234),
Nicholas IV (between 1288 and 1289) and Boniface VIII (in 1298).
This period of splendor coincided, moreover, with the presence of Saint
Francis of Assisi, who showed a great appreciation for the places of the
Piana Reatina (for this reason also known as the Holy Valley) and stayed
there several times: the first probably in 1209 , then a long stay in
1223 and another from autumn 1225 to April 1226, shortly before his
death. During these stays he founded the four sanctuaries of Greccio, La
Foresta, Poggio Bustone and Fonte Colombo and the creation of the first
living nativity scene took place, still a global symbol of Christianity
today, the drafting of the definitive Rule of the Franciscan order and
(probably) the composition of the Canticle of Creatures.
Following the indignation of the people during Holy Thursday in 1228 and
subsequent threats, the Roman citizens forced Pope Gregory IX to flee
from Rome, however giving him a safe conduct to Rieti. The story relates
to the issue relating to the excommunication inflicted on Frederick II
of Swabia for the continuous postponement of the crusade already
promised to Pope Honorius III.
On 13 July 1234, in the Cathedral
of Santa Maria Assunta, Pope Gregory IX canonized Saint Dominic, founder
of the Dominican order.
On 29 May 1289 Charles II of Anjou, son
and successor of Charles I of Anjou, was crowned King of Sicily and
Jerusalem in the Rieti cathedral by Pope Nicholas IV.
During the
Avignon captivity, Rieti was conquered by the King of Naples and battles
raged between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, which the powerful Roman
families (among all those of the Orsini) took advantage of to establish
a feudal dominion over the territory. The domination of the Roman nobles
was stopped by an expedition by Cardinal Albornoz in 1354, which
preceded the Pope's definitive return to Rome in 1377.
In 1378
Rieti gave itself over to Cecco Alfani, whose family dominated until
1425.
The 16th century was characterized by the emergence of large
landowners such as the Vincentini, the Vecchiarelli, the Potenziani,
who, taking advantage of the fertile Rieti plain still in the process of
being reclaimed, often created agricultural companies. The Piana Reatina
was known, in the 18th century, for the quantity of ford present in the
lake area, which was used to dye the uniforms of Napoleon's troops blue.
Between 1798 and 1799, during the Roman Republic, Rieti was the
district capital and together with the districts of Foligno and Spoleto
it was part of the Department of Clitunno (capital of Spoleto). Upon the
annexation of the Papal State into the Kingdom of Italy by the
Napoleonic Empire (1809), Rieti was included in the Department of Rome
and in 1812 it was made the head of an arrondissement.
Following
the restoration, in 1816 Pope Pius VII divided the State of the Church
into 17 delegations, where Rieti was the capital of the Delegation of
Rieti (3rd class delegation, the least important) with district
government headquarters in Rieti and Poggio Mirteto. In 1850 Pius IX
grouped the delegations into five large legations; that of Rieti,
together with Perugia and Spoleto, became part of the III Legation of
Umbria with Perugia as its capital.
Thanks also to its strategic
position, on the border between the Papal State and the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies, the city of Rieti was very active during the Risorgimento.
On 7 March 1821 the battle of Rieti-Antrodoco, considered the first of
the Risorgimento, saw the defeat of Guglielmo Pepe's Carbonari by the
Austrians led by General Johann M. Von Frimont, who was recognized as
Prince of Antrodoco by the King Ferdinand I for victory.
In the
short duration of the Roman Republic, three people from Rieti and one
from Mirtense (Francesco Battistini, Giuseppe Maffei, Mario Simeoni and
Ippolito Vicentini) were part of the constituent assembly, while
Giuseppe Garibaldi, together with his wife Anita, was in Rieti for
almost three months, from 29 January to 13 April 1849, to guard the
borders with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The general stayed in the
palace of the Colelli marquises and requisitioned the Bishop's Palace to
use it as a dormitory for his "Roman Legion". When he set off again he
was followed by numerous volunteers who joined the legion, including the
young Rieti people Michele Paolessi and Carlo Tosi who lost their lives
in the siege of Rome.
On the eve of the unification of Italy, the agreements made by Cavour
on an international level would have foreseen the permanence of Rieti in
the hands of the pontiff, but the people of Rieti managed to obtain the
separation of their territory from the Patrimony of Saint Peter, and
therefore the possibility of immediately decide to join the Kingdom of
Italy (unlike other papal territories such as Viterbo, which had to wait
for the breach of Porta Pia to become part of it). Consequently, on 23
September 1860 the Italian army entered a Rieti covered with tricolor
flags, composed of two grenadier regiments accompanying the Royal
Commissioner for the Province of Rieti, Count Oreste Biancoli of
Bagnocavallo; on 3 and 4 November a plebiscite was held which decreed
the annexation with 1963 votes in favour, 3 against and 4 null votes.
Rieti and Sabina then witnessed the Agro Roman campaign for the
liberation of Rome (1867): on 23 October of that year, while he was
going to Rome with the intention of liberating it, Garibaldi was in
Rieti for a second time , and eighty Rieti volunteers took part in the
battle of Mentana, among whom Pietro Boschi and Ettore Lucandri lost
their lives. Three years later, Domenico Martini from Rieti fell in the
breach of Porta Pia.
In the Kingdom of Italy the city became the
capital of the Rieti district, which became part of the province of
Perugia together with Terni and the rest of Umbria; the requests to see
the territories of Rieti and Cittaducale reunited in a province of
Sabina with Rieti as the capital remained unsatisfied. The events of
this period led to profound socio-economic changes, but the role of the
city remained marginal. The Rieti-Avezzano railway project dates back to
the second half of the 19th century, but was never completed.
The
figure of Giacinto Vincenti Mareri was responsible for an attempt at
renewal, through the foundation of an agricultural company open to new
types of crops and the foundation of the Cassa di Risparmio di Rieti in
1846; Also worthy of mention is Prince Giovanni Potenziani, who
following the example of Vincenti Mareri started the cultivation of
sugar beet. The city and its industry will remain linked to this plant
for a long time: in 1873 the Rieti sugar factory was inaugurated, the
first in Italy, which in 1887, thanks to Emilio Maraini, began producing
on a national scale. Thanks to the studies of Nazareno Strampelli, at
the beginning of the twentieth century, high-productivity wheat
varieties resistant to hostile environmental factors were created in
Rieti.
From the establishment of the province onwards
In 1923
the territory of Rieti was separated from Umbria and included in the
province of Rome; through Royal Decree no. 1 of 2 January 1927, the
fascist government established 17 new provinces including the province
of Rieti, uniting the territory of the Rieti district with that of the
former Cittaducale district (previously part of the province of Aquila
degli Abruzzi) with the aim of recreating the historical region of
Sabina. The role of capital of the city was further strengthened the
following year, when the municipalities of Contigliano, Cantalice,
Poggio Fidoni and Vazia were abolished and aggregated to the
municipality of Rieti; only after the war did the first two return to
being independent municipalities.
The promotion to provincial
capital allowed the city to initiate a more effective growth process.
The definitive transition to an industrial economy was marked by
Supertessile, a large factory for the production of artificial silk that
employed thousands of workers (established by Baron Alberto Fassini and
subsequently acquired by SNIA Viscosa). The arrival of the Supertessile
made Rieti one of the major manufacturing centers in Lazio, thanks also
to the related activities which favored the establishment of new
industries (such as Montecatini) and the shortly subsequent construction
of the Rieti airport (which favored the birth of the aeronautical
industry ORLA).
The most important events of the Second World War
were the Allied bombing of 19 November 1943 (in which the industrial
plants of Viale Maraini, the railway station and the airport were
seriously damaged), the massacre of the Fosse Reatine which took place
on 9 April 1944 and the bombing of the Borgo district on 6 June 1944
which caused numerous victims and razed part of the district to the
ground. On 12 and 13 June 1944 the Germans blew up numerous buildings
(including Porta Cintia, the Roman bridge rebuilt in 1939) and damaged
others (the airport, the sugar factory and other industrial plants),
sacked the city and retreated . On 16 June 1944 the city was liberated
with the entry of the English army.
Starting from the sixties, a
further push towards industrial growth occurred with the birth of the
industrial nucleus of Rieti-Cittaducale, thanks also to the
contributions of the Cassa del Mezzogiorno.
However, later,
thanks to the interruption of public body funding and the lack of fast
connections, the industries faced a crisis that still lasts today.
Furthermore, the closure of many companies has placed at the center
of the political debate the need for the reclamation and redevelopment
of the former industrial areas (above all those of the sugar factory and
the Supertextile, now incorporated into the urban fabric due to building
expansion).