Lazio · Rieti
Magliano Sabina
A 222-meter Sabine town on a Tiber terrace, cathedral seat of the Sabina diocese on the Lazio-Umbria border.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Magliano Sabina is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The nearest town with a letter is Narni, No. 82, 28 min by car.
Subscribe and you get Magliano Sabina's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 2 min from Rome
- Population
- 3,452
- J11°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M24°
- J29°
- J34°
- A33°
- S27°
- O22°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Magliano Sabina sits on a terrace above the Tiber valley, fifty kilometers north of Rome on the border between Lazio and Umbria. The hill above the river was Sabine ground; the Roman town of Ocriculum, just across in modern Umbria, was the regional anchor. The medieval center grew up under the Benedictine abbey of Farfa and passed to the Holy See in the fourteenth century, and the diocesan seat later moved up from the older episcopal site at Vescovio, in neighboring Torri in Sabina, to the town's upper church.
The upper town, walled and gathered around the Palazzo Comunale and the cathedral, occupies the terrace edge; the Vescovio remains lie apart in the surrounding countryside, marking where the diocese first sat before the seat moved uphill into Magliano itself. From the ridge the ground gives way west to the Tiber and then climbs into Monte Soratte on the far bank, a view that alone earned the town membership in the Borghi più belli d'Italia in 2003. The town's standing, then, rests less on any single monument than on the relation between an old river crossing, an abbey's authority, and a line of sight that has drawn notice since antiquity.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 12 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 2 h 46 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 32 min or Siena 2 h 4 min.
Coming by train into Roma Termini? Magliano Sabina is about 1 h 3 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Cattedrale di San Liberatore
The cathedral stands on Piazza Duomo, its stone façade the dominant note of the square and the seat around which the diocese has organized itself since the medieval period.
Chiesa di San Pietro
Twelfth-century Romanesque church, one of the oldest standing buildings in town, with its original masonry preserved.
Centro storico
Medieval upper town on the Tiber terrace, with the Palazzo Comunale, the diocesan seat and surviving sections of the village walls.
Panorama on Monte Soratte
From the ridge the ground drops toward the Tiber and rises again on the far side into the outlier's bare limestone cone, standing alone against the lower country around it.
Area archeologica di Vescovio
Remains of the Roman Forum Novum and the medieval cathedral of Santa Maria di Vescovio at Vescovio in neighboring Torri in Sabina, the original Sabine episcopal seat.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Degli AngeliRistorante
Degli Angeli carries one Gambero Rosso fork (79/100), plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Magliano Sabina is a village with a town close by.
- A village of 3,452, with Civita Castellana (15,070 people) 15 min away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
- Terni, a city of 106,310, is 43 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 3,452, down 9% since 2015
- Nearest city Terni, 43 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Civita Castellana, 8 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €650 to €1,000 per m² to buy, €3.20 to €4.30 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 85% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rome Ciampino airport (CIA), 1 h 2 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 2 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and India, against 9% across Italy. 23 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany and the United Kingdom. There are 292 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 31% 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 Civita Castellana, 8 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Terni, 28 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 32 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. 3% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 3% in a high or medium one. 2% 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
SABINE DIOCESE
Seat of the Sabina diocese since the Middle Ages, the cathedral on Piazza Duomo carrying an Alfieri façade from 1735.
MONTE SORATTE
The terrace view across the Tiber to Soratte, the conical limestone outlier Horace named in his Carmina.
SABINA OLIVE OIL
DOP-protected Sabina extra-virgin olive oil produced in the comune territory, the first oil DOP recognized in Italy in 1996.
Common questions
- What is Magliano Sabina known for?
- Magliano Sabina is a 222-meter Sabine town on a Tiber terrace, cathedral seat of the Sabina diocese on the Lazio-Umbria border.
- Where is Magliano Sabina?
- Magliano Sabina is a comune in the province of Rieti, in Lazio, at 222 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Magliano Sabina?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rome Ciampino (CIA), about 1 h 2 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Magliano Sabina?
- About 1 h 32 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Magliano Sabina?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Magliano Sabina?
- Sutri, Castelnuovo di Porto and Acquapendente.
- How many people live in Magliano Sabina?
- 3,452 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Magliano Sabina a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Magliano Sabina is a village with a town of 5,000 people within 15 minutes (Civita Castellana, 15 min). The nearest city, Terni, is 43 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Civita Castellana, 8 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 85% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 222 m
- Population: 3,452
- Surface area: 43.23 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.
The ranked lists
Lists Magliano Sabina appears in
- The best hill towns with a serious restaurant within 90 minutes of TerniNear Ternihill townwithin 90 minserious restaurant7 towns · smallest 3,452 residents · closest 33 min away
- The prettiest villages that eat well within 90 minutes of TerniNear Terniwithin 90 mineats wellprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 686 residents · closest 16 min away
- The best small towns in Lazio for dinnerLazioserious restauranthidden8 towns · smallest 1,650 residents
- The 9 best hidden hill towns that eat well within 90 minutes of TerniNear Ternihill townwithin 90 mineats wellhidden9 towns · smallest 902 residents · closest 16 min away
- The 9 best hill towns with a serious restaurant in LazioLaziohill townserious restaurant9 towns · smallest 3,452 residents
Near here, with a letter
- 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.
28 min by car
- Written about. No. 63.
Caprarola
Province: Viterbo
A Cimini hill town above Lago di Vico, dominated by the pentagonal Villa Farnese that Vignola built for the Farnese cardinals between 1559 and 1573.
21 km away
- Written about. No. 75.
Amelia
Province: Terni
A pre-Roman hilltown ringed by polygonal walls, with ten barrel-vaulted Roman cisterns beneath its main square.
22 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 24 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.