Rieti

Rieti stands on a low rise at the edge of the Piana Reatina, the plain the Romans made when they drained the Lacus Velinus and sent its water over the cliff at Marmore. Medieval walls still close one side of the centro storico, and Via Roma runs down to the Velino and the stumps of the Roman bridge that carried the Via Salaria into town. A marker in Piazza San Rufo stands for what Rieti has claimed for centuries: the umbilicus Italiae, the center of Italy.

Popes stayed here often enough to build a palace beside the cathedral, and in 1234 Gregory IX canonized Saint Dominic inside it. Saint Francis spent long stretches in the valley, which is why it is called the Valle Santa; the sanctuaries of Fonte Colombo and La Foresta are both in the comune. Above the plain, Monte Terminillo rises to 2,217 meters and is known as Rome's mountain. In 2021 the town offered remote workers half their rent, up to 200 euros a month, to come and live here.

From Rome (FCO), about 2 hours by car.

Ancona / Pescara (AOI) is about 3 hours away.

By car from the centre of Perugia 1h 39m or Pescara 2 hours.

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

Coming from Rome?

Coming by train into Roma Termini? Rieti is about 1h 23m away by road.

Every town within reach of Rome airport.