Attractions and Places To See around Belmonte In Sabina - Top 20

Grande Albergo Quattro Stagioni, Piazza Cesare, Rieti RI Quattro Stagioni, Piazza Cesare Battisti 14, Rieti RI The hotel is located in a restricted-traffic zone within the medieval walls that surround much of the city center, overlooking the Romanesque cathedral, in front of the magnificent Italian garden of Palazzo Vincentini, two minutes from Sabina Universitas and the shopping street, and in front of the elevator leading to the newly renovated Santa Lucia Cultural Center. The strategic location also allows visitors to walk to the center of Italy (Umbilicus Italiae, as Rieti's Marco Terenzio Varrone called it) in Piazza San Rufo, whose church houses a wonderful organ and a Guardian Angel by Caravaggio. Text / Source: Quattro Stagioni, Piazza Cesare Battisti 14, IT-02100 Rieti RI Internet: https://www.hotelquattrostagionirieti.com/

Umbilicus Italiæ - Centro d'Italia, Rieti / Geographical Center of Italy In Piazza San Rufo, Varronian tradition places the so-called Umbilicus Italiae, the geographical center of Italy, commemorated by a plaque. Piazza San Rufo is located amidst the imposing buildings of the historic center, which line the main streets Via Roma and Via Garibaldi. In the center of the square, a section of wall, a remnant of the Roman city's first city walls, can be seen beneath the pavement. The value of this area is commemorated by a plaque and a monument with a unique shape, located exactly in the center of the square and aptly called "la caciotta" (the caciotta) for its rounded and circular design. The work, created between the 1980s and 1990s following the city's twinning with the Georgian capital Tbilisi, appears to resemble the base of a column and features the design of the Italian peninsula on its surface, accompanied by the inscription "Umbilicus Italiae" (Umbilicus Italiae), which runs along half the circumference of the monument itself. Text / Source: Official Tourist Portal of the City of Rieti https://www.visitrieti.com/2020/01/25/rieti-umbilicus-italiae/

Quattro Stagioni, Piazza Cesare Battisti 14, Rieti RI The hotel is located in a restricted-traffic zone within the medieval walls that surround much of the city center, overlooking the Romanesque cathedral, in front of the magnificent Italian garden of Palazzo Vincentini, two minutes from Sabina Universitas and the shopping street, and in front of the elevator leading to the newly renovated Santa Lucia Cultural Center. The strategic location also allows visitors to walk to the center of Italy (Umbilicus Italiae, as Rieti's Marco Terenzio Varrone called it) in Piazza San Rufo, whose church houses a wonderful organ and a Guardian Angel by Caravaggio. Text / Source: Quattro Stagioni, Piazza Cesare Battisti 14, IT-02100 Rieti RI Internet: https://www.hotelquattrostagionirieti.com/

The sanctuary of Santa Maria della Foresta is one of the four sanctuaries that celebrate the passage of San Francesco in the Reatina valley. According to some, it was precisely here that the Saint composed the Canticle of the Creatures. In this place there originally stood a small church dedicated to San Fabiano flanked by the priest's house alone. Legend has it that, during the period in which Saint Francis stayed here, many people from Rieti went to visit him, often picking bunches of grapes from the priest's vineyard. When it was time to collect the fruits for the harvest, the priest realized that there was very little left, nevertheless, encouraged by Saint Francis, he collected and harvested what little there was, however obtaining much more wine than in previous years. Of this episode, remembered as the "miracle of wine", traces can still be found inside the sanctuary: in fact, inside the domus there are the remains of a tank for pressing wine dating back to the period of the Saint's life.

The Romanesque bridge dates back to the 11th century, but was probably built on a pre-existing building of an unspecified period, of rare beauty, still usable but which requires urgent and significant restoration. In the two pillars it is possible to notice the three "holes" used to insert wooden poles horizontally, capable of supporting the "centre" for closing the stone arch. As you pass the bridge on the left, going up towards Posticciola, there is still a clear trace of "Garitta Muraria" where the border point with the Papal State and Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was made, and with the "horizontal transhumance" the duty for the ride. Transhumance has an ancient history which most likely coincides with the history of breeding itself and was regulated and disciplined since Roman times by a set of laws of taxes to be paid in the various customs. Transhumance derives from the Latin "trans" (beyond) and "humus" (earth) = pastoralism transmigrating with the seasons, along the sheep tracks (from the Latin "tractoria" = the shepherds' roads). In southern Italy transhumance was divided into "vertical" and "horizontal". The first concerned the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with several sheep tracks that connected from Abruzzo to Puglia (the most important was the famous "Tratturo Magno"). Horizontal transhumance, however, also of ancient origins, descended into the Roman countryside and increased considerably in 1477, when Pope Sixtus IV forced all the shepherds of the "Kingdom of the Church" to take their animals to winter in the Agro Romano. Transhumance in Lazio reached its peak starting from 1800, when the "vertical" one entered into crisis. This was usually in provincial sections from Umbria towards Civitavecchia, from the Marche towards Polo and Maccarese, from Abruzzo towards the Roman countryside, from Ciociaria towards Anzio and Terracina. http://www.magiadelturano.it/index.php/posticciola/ponte-romanico

Saint Lawrence / "San LORENZO", to whom this church in Contigliano - which is now only a ruin but still dominates the landscape with its silhouette - was dedicated, is one of the early Christian martyrs from a time when Christianity was still forbidden. He was archdeacon of the Pope and was asked by the pagan emperor to hand over the treasure to the church. Lawrence asked for three days, during which time he distributed the church assets among the poor inhabitants of Rome and, after the agreed time, came to the emperor with the poor to present them to him as the treasure of the church. He was then martyred to death, the legend says that he was roasted alive on a grate - this attribute can be seen in many depictions of Saint Lawrence - over coals. He is said to have been in good spirits and told his executioner on the one hand whether he wanted to turn him around. The feast day of San Lorenzo/Saint Lawrence in the calendar of saints is August 10th.

The sanctuary of Santa Maria della Foresta is one of the four sanctuaries erected by Saint Francis, together with the sanctuary of Fonte Colombo, the sanctuary of Greccio, and the sanctuary of Poggio Bustone. Source: Wikipedia

The Romanesque bridge (or Ponte Vecchio) near Posticciola is a really good example of the time it was. Formerly a post station and place of transit for transhumance, the bridge preserves the layout of a medieval Sabine village well.