Rieti

Rieti is a town in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti. The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake. The area is now the fertile basin of the Velino River. Only the small Ripasottile and Cantalice lakes remain of the original large one. Reate was originally a major site of the Sabine nation. After the Roman conquest, carried out ... more

Rieti is a town in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti. The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake. The area is now the fertile basin of the Velino River. Only the small Ripasottile and Cantalice lakes remain of the original large one. Reate was originally a major site of the Sabine nation. After the Roman conquest, carried out by Manius Curius Dentatus in late 3rd century BC, the village became a strategic point in the early Italic road network, dominating the "salt" track (known as Via Salaria) that linked Rome to the Adriatic Sea through the Apennines. Curius Dentatus drained a large portion of the lake by making the Velino a distributary of the Nera river. The wide area once occupied by the lake turned into a fertile plain. Following Roman customs, the land was split into characteristic square allotments. The town itself underwent significant development, being... less