Rieti

Sister cities

• Nordhorn
• Ito
• Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf

History

According to the legend, Reate was founded by Rea, a divinity (that would be the origin of the town name). It was founded at the beginning of the Iron Age (9th–8th century BC). Probably in earlier times the lands around Rieti were inhabited by Umbri, then by Aborigines and later on by Sabines, who reached the lands sited in the nearby of Tevere river. Reate was originally a major site of the Sabine nation well before the foundation of Rome. According to the legend, when Romulus founded Rome, Romans kidnapped Sabine women in order to populate the town (The Rape of the Sabine Women) and this led to a war between Romans and Sabines. The battle of the Lacus Curtius came to an end only when the women threw themselves between the armies, begging the men who were by then their relatives to stop fighting. Romulus and Titus Tatius relented and a collaboration between the two people started. According to an account more based on history, Sabines settled on the Quirinale because of their continuous need for grazing-lands. After the final Roman conquest, carried out by Manius Curius Dentatus in the early third century BC (290 BC), the village became a strategic point in the early Italian road network, dominating the "salt" track (Via Salaria) that linked Rome to the Adriatic Sea through the Apennines. Many lands of Reate and Amiternum were confiscated and allocated to Romans. From the outset, Sabines were offered Roman citizenship but without voting rights, until 268 BC in which they gained full citizenship, and were incorporated into two new tribes (Velina and Quirina). Curius Dentatus drained a large portion of the lake by diverting the Velino river into the Nera (thus giving birth to Marmore Falls). The wide area once occupied by the lake turned into a fertile plain (the…

Most-observed species

• Asian tiger mosquito, Forest day mosquito

  Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) · Insecta
  212
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  170
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  123
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  109
• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  106
• Great Crested Grebe

  Podiceps cristatus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  101
• Great Cormorant/European Shag

  Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  100
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  96

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-07-24
  1 km NNW of Petritoli, Italy
• M 4.2 — 2026-05-23
  4 km WSW of Bolognola, Italy
• M 4.2 — 2025-09-20
  4 km SSE of San Terenziano, Italy
• M 2.7 — 2025-05-08
  1 km NNE of Montecompatri, Italy
• M 3.2 — 2025-03-04
  3 km S of Bevagna, Italy
• M 4 — 2023-11-14
  2 km ESE of Monteleone di Fermo, Italy