Have a look at SMCC in Rieti

To give you a better idea of the many opportunities awaiting the YPAS travelers in Rieti, have a look at this video that documents the time the San Marino Chamber Choir from California spent in our favorite small Italian town. The only regret these guys had about Rieti - not having enough time here. And to make sure we don't repeat that "mistake", YPAS will be staying in Rieti for a few nights as there is so much to see and do.

Rieti: the belly button of Italy

Rieti is a wonderful city to explore the history of Italy, from the Ancient times until the present. It has remarkable monuments and remains from all ages, especially the Middle Ages, as you will also see in some other Italian cities. But what you will not find in other cities – including Rome – is the traditional center of Italy! Even if it is not geographically exact, Rieti has always been known as the Italian belly button – the Umbilicus Italiae since the times of the ancient Romans.

After the Roman domination in the late 3rd Century BC, the village of Rieti already became a strategic point in the Italian road network, dominating the “salt way” (Vía Salaria) that still runs all the way to Rome. During those times, Via Salaria had linked Rome to the Adriatic Sea through the Apennine Mountains. At the time, Rieti could be found in the writings of Virgil and Pliny the Elder, described as the center of the Italian peninsula. 

According to the ancient historians di Alicarnasso and Varrone, Lake Paterno used to lie where Rieti is now. The lake had an island in the middle, which they referred to as the belly button of Italy. The two small lakes you see today (Laghi Reatini) are what is left after the Romans made a cut on a hill near Marmore. The cut created the tallest Italian waterfall, called Cascata delle Marmore.

During the Middle Ages, Rieti kept the title of Italian Umbilicus, as they believed that the distance from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea was 104 Italian miles, and Rieti was the center between them. As it was also the exact center between Augusta Praetorio (today’s Aosta) and Cabo dell’Armi (in Calabria), whose distance was 620 miles. Rieti was an important gastaldate during the Lombard domination, a country capital during the times of the Franks, a favorite Papal seat, and a provincial capital, but it has never lost the title of Italian Center.

In the 19th Century, a granite stone was situated in the middle of the Piazza San Rufo, which has been called the center of Italy since then: Piazza San Rufo Centro d’Italia. Some years later, the granite stone was substituted by another stone on which you could read: Medium Totius Italiae. But this inscribed stone was stolen! So on March 29th, 1950, a plaque with the words “Center of Italy” in 20 different languages was placed in the Piazza San Rufo Centro d'Italia.

In the year 2001, the city received as a present a monument nicknamed the “Caciotta”, which you will be able to see in your first days in Rieti, belly button of Italy. Even today, it is still called the Umbilicus Italiae. They even have a facebook group! By the way, Cacciota is a young, mild and small artisan cheese from the center of Italy – specially from Tuscany – which can be found in different varieties: saffron, garlic, mustard… yummy!

Incantato Tours welcomes You to Italy

Italy is located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine border with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers 301,338 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.2 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country in Europe, and the twenty-third most populous in the world.
The country known as Italy today has been the cradle of European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Italy's capital, Rome, was for centuries the political center of Western civilization, as the capital of the Roman Empire. After its decline, Italy would endure numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Normans and later, the Byzantines, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
Through much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous kingdoms and city-states (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Duchy of Milan), but was unified in 1861, a tumultuous period in history known as the "Risorgimento". In the late 19th century, through World War I, and to World War II, Italy possessed a colonial empire, which extended its rule to Libya, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopia, Albania, Rhodes, the Dodecanese and a concession in Tianjin, China.
Modern Italy is a democratic republic and the world's eighteenth most developed country, with the eighth or tenth highest quality of life index rating in the world. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Italy is also a member of the G8 and G20. It is a member state of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Council of Europe, and the Western European Union as well. The country's European political, social and economic influence make it a major regional power, alongside the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia, and Italy has been classified in a study, measuring hard power, as being the eleventh greatest worldwide national power. The country has a high public education level, high labor force, is a globalized nation, and also has 2009's sixth best international reputation. Italy also has the world's nineteenth highest life expectancy, and the world's second best healthcare system. It is the world's fifth most visited country, with over 43.7 million international arrivals, and boasts a long tradition and several achievements in the arts, science and technology, including the world's highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to date.