What is Amatrice known for?

Sugo all'amatriciana, guanciale and pecorino and pepper with tomato added in the nineteenth century, the dish that carries the town's name. A 6.2 magnitude earthquake at 3:36 in the morning killed 295 people in the cratere and leveled most of the centro storico. Sandstone Apennine massif above town, part of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park, with beech and silver fir at altitude.

Amatrice is a comune in the province of Rieti, Lazio region of Italy, about 87 kilometers from Terni.

Lazio · Rieti

Amatrice

A 955-meter Apennine town leveled by the 24 August 2016 earthquake, slowly rebuilding the streets that gave amatriciana its name.

955m

Elevation

87 km / 54 mi

Nearest hub (Terni)

2,251

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Amatrice sits at 955 meters on a saddle of the Monti della Laga, inside the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park, where Lazio runs into Abruzzo and the Marche. At 3:36 in the morning on 24 August 2016, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck. Two hundred and ninety-five people died in the cratere, most of them in Amatrice. The centro storico, the Corso Umberto I and the Piazza Sagnotti, collapsed almost completely. The Torre Civica, severed at the bell chamber, became the symbol of the disaster and was put under scaffolding for six years; consolidation works began in August 2022 and finished the bell stage in 2023. The town that survived gave its name to sugo all'amatriciana: guanciale, pecorino, pepper, and, since the nineteenth century, tomato. The Sagra degli Spaghetti all'Amatriciana, run since 1967, returned in 2018 in the temporary food court Area Food. Reconstruction continues. The Laga peaks above town are unchanged.

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Gallery

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Known for

Torre Civica
Fourteenth-century civic tower at the crossing of Via Roma and Corso Umberto, symbol of the 2016 earthquake; bell chamber reconstructed in 2023.
Chiesa di Sant'Agostino
Fourteenth-century church, rose window heightened in the twentieth century, fell first in the 2016 earthquake; primary reconstruction priority.
Monti della Laga
Sandstone Apennine range above town, sheltering rare relict beech and silver fir forest, inside the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park.
Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga
1,413 square kilometers of protected Apennine, the second-largest national park in mainland Italy, with Amatrice on its northern edge.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the season for Amatrice. The Laga snow clears by late May; June and September are dry and clear, with the Pizzo di Sevo visible from the temporary square. July and August are the festival months: the Sagra degli Spaghetti all'Amatriciana, run since 1967 and resumed in 2018, brings the town back to its food and its name. November through April is hard at 955 meters, with snow on the Laga and most reconstruction sites paused. The earthquake anniversary on 24 August is a working day of remembrance, not a tourist event.