Lazio · Rieti
Casperia
A Sabina hill village named Aspra in Virgil's Aeneid, called that until 1947, ringed by walls from 1282.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Casperia is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione and Città dell'Olio.
The nearest town with a letter is Terni, No. 88, 25 km away.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 4 min from Rome
- Population
- 1,197
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J32°
- A31°
- S25°
- O21°
- N15°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Casperia sits on the western slope of the Monti Sabini, fifty kilometers northeast of Rome. Its two gates face opposite directions on the hillside, one toward the lower road on the west, the other toward the valley on the east, and both feed into the same climbing street pattern that rings the hill in concentric bands up to the church at the summit. No vehicles pass the gates, so the interior keeps its medieval scale intact, lane by lane, without the intrusions that have altered plenty of comparable towns.
Below the walls the slope opens into olive country, part of a protected-origin appellation, in the localities of Paranzano, Santa Maria in Legarano and San Vito. The relationship between the two levels, hilltop settlement above and working groves below, is the shape of the place: a defended village that never spread past its walls, sitting over land that has been worked continuously and given a name and a boundary of its own.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 15 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 2 h 48 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 43 min or Siena 2 h 24 min.
Coming by train into Roma Termini? Casperia is about 1 h 6 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Centro storico
Concentric lanes climb from the gates to the parish church at the summit, laid out with no space for vehicles, a compact plan that reads clearly from any of the approaches below.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
Parish church on the highest point of the village, baroque interior on medieval foundations, with works by Vincenzo Manenti.
Porta Romana
Western gate of the wall circuit, the main entry point on foot from the lower road.
Porta Santa Maria
Eastern gate of the wall circuit, the second entry point on foot from the valley side.
Sabina DOP olive groves
Groves surrounding the village in the localities of Paranzano, Santa Maria in Legarano and San Vito, part of the Sabina DOP appellation.
Living here
Could you live here?
Casperia is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,197. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Poggio Mirteto, is 19 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Rieti, a city of 45,083, is 46 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,197, down 4.1% since 2015
- Nearest city Rieti, 46 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Rieti, 17 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €700 to €950 per m² to buy, €3.40 to €4.30 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 57% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rome Ciampino airport (CIA), 1 h 6 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 4 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
7% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, the United Kingdom and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 21 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom. There are 301 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 46% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Rieti province ranks 75th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Rieti, 17 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 27 km away. The nearest IB school is Acorn International School, 43 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. Under 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
VIRGIL'S ASPRA
Named Aspra in Book VII of the Aeneid; kept the name until 1947, when it was renamed Casperia for an older Sabine site.
NO-CAR BORGO
Walled village from 1282, entered only on foot through the Porta Romana or the Porta Santa Maria.
SABINA DOP
First Italian olive oil protected-origin denomination, 1996; the groves around the village are part of the appellation.
Common questions
- What is Casperia known for?
- Casperia is a Sabina hill village named Aspra in Virgil's Aeneid, called that until 1947, ringed by walls from 1282.
- Where is Casperia?
- Casperia is a comune in the province of Rieti, in Lazio, at 397 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Casperia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rome Ciampino (CIA), about 1 h 6 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Casperia?
- About 1 h 43 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Casperia?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Casperia?
- Trequanda, Mercatello sul Metauro and Varese Ligure.
- How many people live in Casperia?
- 1,197 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Casperia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Casperia is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Poggio Mirteto, is 19 min away. The nearest city, Rieti, is 46 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Rieti, 17 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 57% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 397 m
- Population: 1,197
- Surface area: 25.31 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Featured on
Casperia appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 88.
Terni
Province: Terni
Umbria's second city, rebuilt around its steelworks, home of Saint Valentine and seven kilometers from the Cascata delle Marmore.
25 km away
- Written about. No. 82.
Narni
Province: Terni
Narni is a hilltop town on a travertine outcrop above the Nera valley whose Latin name, Narnia, gave C.S. Lewis a word for a fictional kingdom he never set foot in.
45 min by car
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 38 km away
Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Tuscia guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The land Rome took twice. 16 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.