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00 Magliano Sabina
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Lazio · Rieti

Magliano Sabina

A 222-meter Sabine town on a Tiber terrace, cathedral seat of the Sabina diocese on the Lazio-Umbria border.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
1 h from Rome
By train
Station in the comune
Population
3,433

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.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J11°
  • F14°
  • M15°
  • A18°
  • M24°
  • J29°
  • J34°
  • A33°
  • S27°
  • O22°
  • N16°
  • D12°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: San Liberatore, 15 May

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 centre 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 the comune's own territory, 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.

Our guide

Tuscia, Lazio

Our nearest guide, 24 km away

Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there

The land Rome took twice. 16 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.

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Magliano Sabina in our articles

How to get there

From Rome (FCO), about 1h 37m by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 2h 46m away.

By car from the centre of Perugia 1h 32m or Siena 2 hours.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Rome or Florence?

Coming by train into Roma Termini? Magliano Sabina is about 1 hour away by road.

Every town within reach of Rome airport.

Magliano Sabina, photo 1
Magliano Sabina, photo 2

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 in the comune territory, the original Sabine episcopal seat.

The slow-trip planner

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We recommend

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.

Living here

  • Population 3,433, down 9% since 2015
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest public hospital Civita Castellana, 8 km as the crow flies
  • Full fibre reaches 85% of homes
  • Primary school in the comune
  • Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
  • Nearest airport Rome, 1 h 37 min drive
  • Regional capital Roma, 1 h 2 min drive

Could you live here?

Magliano Sabina is a village with a town close by.

  • A village of 3,433, with Civita Castellana (15,247 people) 15 minutes away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
  • Terni, a city of 106,370, is 43 minutes by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
  • A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the centre.

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. The rest of the series, and the best towns to move to, arrive in the Sunday letter.

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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?
Rome (FCO), about 1h 37m by car.
Can you get to Magliano Sabina without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Perugia to Magliano Sabina?
About 1h 32m 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.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Magliano Sabina?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: San Liberatore, 15 May.
Which other towns are like Magliano Sabina?
Castelnuovo di Porto, Capranica and Castro dei Volsci.
How many people live in Magliano Sabina?
3,433 at the 2023 count.
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 minutes). The nearest city, Terni, is 43 minutes away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Civita Castellana, 8 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 85% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 222 m
  • Population: 3,433
  • 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.

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